


All is Fair in Love or War

by AveryDreams



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura & Lance (Voltron) are Siblings, Altean Lance (Voltron), Altean Prince Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Royalty, F/F, Galra Keith (Voltron), Galran Prince Keith (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron) Fluff, Klance AU Month 2019, M/M, Slow Burn, Voltron, klance, vld, voltron legendary defenders - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-01-06 16:11:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18391841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AveryDreams/pseuds/AveryDreams
Summary: Lance is an Altean Prince, and a damn fine one at that. Keith is a Galran Prince.With both kingdoms on the brink of war, it is agreed upon that the Princes marry to join their kingdoms in peace.Such opposites being forced to get along is difficult, so they have to compromise.Lots of eye rolling and dense princes await you.





	1. No Choice

**Author's Note:**

> And, I'm back! Hello! I've been working on this story for quite a while now and can only hope you guys enjoy it. I'm trying to make his one longer and better so updates may be slow. I apologize in advance. These two are so cute and dense in my story. Also, Lance has an anxiety attack around the end of this chapter in case you need a warning. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

“All is Fair in Love or War.”

This is a very common phrase in the kingdom of Altea. And Lance is absolutely sick of it by this point.

Today was a slower day in the castle. Even the servants were slacking off. It was the perfect day for Lance to sneak away from the damn place.

Lance snuck around guards and servants quietly. Decked out in full black like a thief. 

Making it outside to the wall was the easy part, however, climbing over the wall was the problem. Because since this one part of wall was the only climbable surface of the entire perimeter, also, if Lance’s sister, Allura, happened to look out her window, she would most definitely see him. Then he’d get in trouble and be grounded once again. No fun. (That’s also why Lance has to sneak around). Lance shrugged his shoulders and prepared to climb, if he got caught, there’s really no punishment worse than being grounded.

He found some footholds but, right as he was about to lift himself for the climb, a voice screeched at him from across the yard.

“Lance!” Allura yelled, “What in the world do you think you are doing!?”

Lance groaned, “nothing now!”

“Get over here this instant before I tell father!”

That got Lance to move, “Alright! Alright! I’m coming!” Lance briskly made his way back inside and to Allura’s room.

He didn’t even knock as he entered. “Why must you be such a tattle tale ‘Llura? I just want a bit of freedom every once in a while.” Lance pouted, crossing his arms and sticking out his bottom lip like a child. 

“Don’t try that with me. You’re a prince Lance, you need to act the part.” Allura scolded, unfolding his arms and pulling him into a much needed hug, “now, you never attempt to climb the wall unless something is wrong. Talk to me.”

Lance melted into her embrace, letting himself relax. “I just need to see Pidge and Hunk today, just to get my mind off of being a prince for a while.” Lance mumbled into her shoulder. Allura always understood stuff like this, how over bearing everything could be at times. That’s why Lance talked to her, plus, if he didn’t tell her, she would probably put him in a headlock until he confessed what was wrong. He learned that the hard way.

Allura sighed, “You do realize that you can just request for them to come over to the castle right?” She brushed her fingers through Lance’s hair, relaxing him even more.

“It’s just not the same ‘Llura. I don’t want all that power to just control people to do my bidding.” Lance explained, “And bringing a body guard around is so annoying, I can’t get a second alone with them around.” 

“I’m sorry Lance,” Allura pulled back and held Lance by the shoulders to look him in the eye, “but your life is much more important than privacy. You need to understand that.”

“Let’s just stop talking about it.” Lance removed her hands from his shoulders, with a smile, he asked, “How’s Romelle doing?”

Allura blushed, “She’s fine, in fact, it’s going even better than I thought it would. Probably since she’s also Altean.”

“It’s about time we united with the southern Altean kingdom, the north and south have some weird differences.” Lance smiled, “at least she’s not Galra right?”

“Thank goodness, I don’t know how I would feel marrying someone in that kingdom.” Allura grimaced, “Especially with that war going on.”

Lance suddenly grinned cheekily, “so in the case of love or war, you’d choose love? Maybe a few kisses as well?”

Allura’s face went red, “Shut up!” She shoved Lance, and he fell right onto his ass, laughing even when he hit the hard floor.

A sudden knock startled them from their fooling around. A guard came in, “Prince Lance, King Alfor has requested an audience with you.” The guard looked Lance’s outfit up and down, “Also, you may want to get dressed your highness.”

Allura gave Lance a concerned glance, but Lance only shrugged it off and smiled at her. “Welp, that’s my call, I shall be on my way. See you later ‘Llura!” Lance bowed mockingly as he followed the guard into the corridor, in the direction of his room. Which happened to be only a hallway away.

They got there pretty quickly, Lance heading into his room while the guard waited outside, giving Lance his privacy.

His “princely” outfit, as he liked to call it, covered a lot of skin, so much so that, all of his Altean markings that swirled and twisted around his body were pretty much all hidden. The only marks that really showed with his gettup was the two little triangular markings underneath his eyes. But, if Lance had a choice on what marks were shown, he would love for the one on the back of his neck to be exposed.

The marking on the back of his neck was his favorite since it was an actual shape. All royal Alteans had one somewhere along their bodies (in the northern Altean kingdom at least). They were these cute little V shapes that didn’t really have a purpose but they were very pleasing to look at. Lance’s V was on the back of his neck, and just like all of his other markings, was colored a light blue that worked with his tan skin perfectly.

Allura’s V was located at her tailbone, colored a soft pink along with the other curving lines that twisted around her body. Lance’s father, Alfor’s, was located on his chest right below his collarbones. Alfor’s were blue like Lance’s but a little bit lighter, which worked with his skin color very well. 

Realizing that he had started to drift away in his thoughts, Lance shook his head, grabbed his crown, and headed out the door.

The guard was patiently waiting for him, and started walking as Lance came out of the room.

Lance hastily put on his crown, shuffling his hair around the thing. He never liked wearing it since his hair seemed to reject the darn thing, making his usually fluffy and nice hair look bedridden and messy. Not a nice look for a prince.

As the two approached the throne room, the guards at the doors opened the doors for them. Lance strode into the room confidently, while the guard stayed behind at the doors, not allowed to enter the throne room without permission.

Lance walked up to his father, who was seated in his throne looking over some documents of some sort. The man looked tired, heavy bags underneath his eyes from sleeplessness, as well as the stress that came with running a kingdom. His posture, to the untrained eye would look commanding and confident. But to Lance, who was raised by this man, knew that he wasn’t sleeping well. He could tell by the slight droop of his shoulders, and the way his back was a little hunched from the exhaustion. The usual smile he held on his face was a whisper in his chiseled jaw, his mustache and beard slightly messy and unkempt. It was hard to see his own father like this. It hurt Lance’s heart to know the king wasn’t taking care of himself. The guy needs a break, Lance thought. 

“Hello father,” Lance bowed respectively, “you called for me?”

The king jumped slightly, just barely noticing Lance in the room, “Yes, Lance,” Alfor said, putting his papers aside to speak to his son, “yes, I- I called for you.”

Lance could see that his father looked worried, something was definitely bothering him. “What’s wrong?” Lance asked, his curiosity getting the best of him, “you seem worried.” Realizing he was being slightly rude, Lance quickly corrected himself, “If I may ask?”

Alfor chuckled slightly, “you’ve been spending too much time with Allura. There is no need to talk so formally with me.” Alfor leaned back into his throne seat, trying to get comfortable, “you are my child after all.”

Lance blushed a bit from embarrassment, he’s been spending a bit too much time with Hunk as well it seemed. “Yes father.”

Alfor straightened in his seat, uh-oh, that was the serious conversation position, Lance thought. This couldn’t be good. Deep breath.

“Lance. There’s been a new… development.” Alfor started, he seemed a bit uncomfortable and sad at the same time, “It seems as though there is a very efficient way of stopping the oncoming war with the Galra Kingdom.”

That surprised Lance a bit. There’s been a feud between their kingdoms for years, no one really knows how it started, but it was getting a bit too close to becoming a full out war.

“Please understand I wish it didn’t come to this but I see no better option. Both kingdoms have agreed upon it, faster than I would have liked since I would have liked to talk to you sooner.” Alfor squirmed in his seat, avoiding eye contact with Lance.

“Father, I understand you’re a busy person, it’s great that you found the time to talk to me now.” Lance stated calmly, not letting his anxiety take hold of him, “whatever this is, I will do my best to understand the situation, and remain calm.” 

“I don’t deserve a son as big hearted as you.” The king mumbled, his eyes brimming with tears, “My son, I have spoken to the Galra Queen, Queen Krolia and we have both agreed that since you and the Galra prince have both come of age, it would be best to join our kingdoms in a marriage bond between the two Princes. He was too young when Allura came to age, so it was agreed upon that he would be marrying you. With this marriage, we could end the war, and have strong allies if any other war was to talk place.” Alfor seemed to deflate a little, the news finally being off his chest. The man looked guilty now, a few tears slipping down his cheeks.

Lance did his best to not hyperventilate, he had to marry a Galra. Someone who they had many quarrels with, people who fought til their dying breath. People who would kill mercilessly. They were ruthless blood craving assholes that would rather fight than talk it out, it seemed at times. To marry one of them? No. That would be a nightmare. Lance couldn’t do this! Were they crazy? This was crazy!

Lance calmed his thoughts, willing his voice not to shake as he spoke, “may I know more of this prince?” His voice seemed dried out but not shaky, he couldn’t bring himself to look in his fathers eyes, looking to the floor instead.

“Of course,” his fathers voice sounded broken and hurt, “his name is Keith Kogane. He is part Galra and part Human since the Galra and Human kingdom united a few years ago. His mother is Queen Krolia of the Galra, and his father is King Texas of the Humans (I still don’t know Texas Kogane’s name, don’t judge. I also might just call him Texas Kogane from now on, I’m sorry not sorry. If you want the name changed, give me an idea lol). He is 21 years old, so, a year older than you. That’s pretty much all I know so far.” Alfor  
sighed, “Him and his personal guard will be visiting tomorrow so you two can meet for the first time.”

Lance could see the water building in his eyes. Keeping his head down, he asked, “shall I go see the castle seamstress to get measurements and colors for the Royal Betrothal/Meeting clothing?”

“I almost forgot about that,” the king replied softly, “please do, we have already received Prince Keith’s sizing and colors, he has chosen red if you wanted to know.”

“May I be excused?” Lance asked, looking up in his fathers direction, but keeping his gaze on the crown atop of the kings head, doing everything he could to avoid the mans eyes, “I have to get ready for tomorrow.” 

Alfor sighed sadly, “you are excused. I will send Allura to help you get fully ready tomorrow morning, as well as have the servants get a hot bath ready for you before then.”

“Thank you father.” Lance replied shortly, bowing before turning on his heel and briskly making his way out of the suffocating room.

The guard that escorted him, had been waiting by the doors for the Prince to come out of the throne room. Lance waved him off, shooting the man an apologetic glance before walking off away from him. The guard did not follow, thankfully getting Lance’s message.

Tears slipped down Lance’s face, burning him with shame of almost crying in front of his father. But all of this information was just too much for Lance to handle. He slipped into the closest deserted room and sat with his back to the door.

His breathing quickened, the tears falling rapidly at this point. The only thing running though his mind was, forced marriage, galra, prince, marriage, shame, and other disgraceful words.

Lance couldn’t seem to breathe anymore, hyperventilating to a point of not getting much intake of oxygen. He clawed at his throat, his arms, legs, anything that would cause him enough pain to ground himself once more. He had to control this.

He forced himself to slow his breathing down, it worked, if just a little bit. There seemed to be a huge lump in his throat, which was released with a loud gasping sob. Hugging his knees closer to himself, he sat in a fetal position, doing whatever he could to calm himself down. He didn’t notice his nails digging into the thin material of his clothing, or the fact that his crown was digging into his forehead. 

The pain didn’t seem to hurt at all by this point. Sobs racked his body whenever he got an intake of air and attempted to slow his breathing. Tears were streaming down his face at this point, as well as a nasty waterfall of snot.

Whenever he seemed to calm down, his thoughts would intrude once again and cause him to go into another state of panic. He wanted Allura, but at the same time he didn’t want her to see him like this. He didn’t want anyone to see him like this actually.

“Quiznak.” Lance cursed softly as his sobs became less frequent, the worst of his panic attack leaving him.

Lance took some deep breaths, trying to calm himself so he could finish his duties for the day and take a nap. These panic attacks always drained him of all his energy, forcing him to take extra time to recharge.

The pain he caused himself started to register in his brain by now. Slight stinging sensations along his arms, legs, and neck. He knew people would see his neck was slightly red with scratch marks but he didn’t care too much at the moment.

Lance scrubbed the tears from his eyes, trying to dry his face and look a little more presentable. Taking a few more deep breaths, Lance shakily got his bearings once again, standing on shaky legs. He felt like jello. All the energy he had before, was simply sapped from his body. He grabbed the hanker chief from his pocket and blew his nose deeply, the loud sound echoing around the room.

A few more shuddering breaths, and Lance slowly exited the room and made his way to the seamstress. He probably hid out in that room for a few hours, since it was already dark outside.

When he got there, he could tell his eyes were still puffy, but he bet he looked better than he did a couple of minutes ago. He knocked before entering the decent sized room.  
“Hello Prince Lance.” The seamstress, Miya, greeted kindly, “Are you here for your betrothal clothing? I started on the top since I know how much you love the colors blue and gold together, but you can change your mind if you want, I wouldn’t mind.”

Miya was a kind lady, she was around in her sixties, but looked good for her age. She was the sweetest lady that Lance had ever met, and was always patient with him.  
Lance smiled genuinely, she always seemed to bring a smile to his face, “blue and gold sounds beautiful Miya. Honestly, anything you make would be absolutely perfect.”

“You flatter me child.” She chuckled, if she noticed the red on Lance’s neck and eyes, she didn’t say anything about it, which Lance was grateful for. “Now, for the bottoms, would you prefer a skirt or leggings? The Galra Prince chose leggings if you wanted to know. He also chose silver for the accent.”

“A skirt would be nice, since it’s probably going to be hot tomorrow.” Lance replied with a small smile, “besides, I would look good in a skirt.”

Miya laughed at Lance’s joke as she shuffled around her material pile, looking for some gold lace. Her smile fell suddenly and she looked Lance in the eyes, “you know, Prince Lance, this Galra boy may not be as bad as you think. He is only half Galra after all. Maybe he’s nicer than your panicked thoughts are making him out to be.”

Did this woman read his thoughts? “How do you do that?” Lance asked, flabbergasted. 

“Lance, I have given birth to six children and raised each one. I learned how to read people.” Miya deadpanned, “besides, I can tell when you’ve had a panic attack. I helped raise you your whole life. I know you and Allura very well by now.”

“Yes, right. Of course.” Lance muttered, picking at his sleeve.

“You should sleep.” Miya said as she started sewing golden lace into the dark blue material, “you have a long day tomorrow, plus, if you don’t head off now, you won’t have time for your skincare routine.” Miya smirked at that.

“Oh, you’re right, it’s getting pretty late isn’t it?” Lance replied, more calm than he was before, “Goodnight Miya. And thank you.”

“You’re welcome Lance. Goodnight.” Miya replied, giving Lance a kind gaze.

Lance made his way out of the room and walked towards his bedroom. He didn’t want to talk to Allura tonight, so he avoided any path that was close to her room.  
By the time he made it into his room, he was exhausted. But, he still wanted to do his face routine. It was a comfort at this point and always made him feel better after a long day. He undressed from the uncomfortable “princely” clothing and dressed into his silk pajamas that Miya had made him a few years ago.

He scrubbed his face with the smooth, clean, pebbles he had collected and washed throughout the years. The small things were very good at getting any dirt out of his skin, and a hot bath sounded heavenly for tomorrow.

Finishing his face routine, Lance felt a lot better than before. The red on his body had faded away, except for a few scratches remaining on his arms. He yawned, exhausted. He definitely needed to sleep as soon as possible. 

He curled up into his soft mattress bed, hugging a pillow tightly to his chest. Maybe tomorrow wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe this Keith would be really attractive or nice or something, Lance thought to himself sleepily.

Yeah, tomorrow would be fine. Lance drifted off to sleep then, his mind giving away to the exhaustion of the busy day. 

Everything would be just fine.


	2. First Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance meets Keith for the first time... it doesn't go too well

Lance’s awakening the next morning wasn’t the kindest.

“Lance!” Allura yelled by his ear, jumping onto his torso, “wake up! We have to get you ready for the day!”

“Five more minutes…” Lance mumbled sleepily.

Allura wasn’t having it. She grabbed his pointed ear harshly and pulled hard. When that only resulted in her hand being bright red from Lance smacking her hand as hard as he could, she just sighed and said, “your hot bath is ready.”

That was what really got Lance to move.

Lance practically sprung from his bed to get himself to his hot bath as fast as he could.

“Lance,” Allura giggled, “slow down, it’s just a bath.”

Gasping dramatically, Lance stopped in his tracks to look at Allura gaping. “Allura, this isn’t just any bath. This is a hot bath.” Lance placed his hand on his chest, feigning shock.

“Oh shut up and take your bath so we can get you ready for the day.” Allura said as she rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face.

Lance wasted no time heading into the washroom and undressing himself from his pajamas, exposing his smooth skin and the curling marks around his body. He gratefully   
slipped his body into the decently sized bathtub that was filled with hot water and rose scented bubbles. A very romantic touch he would say.

The smell of roses and the thought of romance is what reminded Lance of the importance of the day. Of course, the anxiety didn’t go away completely. Nor did the absolute terror of the idea that he had to meet his future husband. Which is not a fun thought exactly. Lance sighed deeply, letting himself relax into the calming water.

By the time Lance exited his bath, he found the betrothal clothes sitting on his counter of the washroom. He examined the material before putting it on. It was a soft material, the skirt was a high-low style that was nice and light, which would probably sway with his hips as he walked. The top, however, was tighter. It wasn’t flowing like the skirt. Instead, it would wrap around his torso, accenting his curves just right.

He got the beautifully made outfit on and examined himself in the mirror. It was… quite revealing. His markings that littered his body were almost fully visible in this outfit. As he thought, the top was short enough to show his toned stomach and define his hips. His shoulders and legs were in full view of whoever would see him. 

He forgot to shave his legs. Quiznak. Lance grabbed a razor and ran back to his bathtub, sitting along the edge. Carefully, he shaved his legs, making sure to not get a single cut on the babies. He wanted to look good for this Keith guy.

Finished, Lance ran out of the washroom to see a very impatient Allura. “Take long enough? The Prince will be here within the hour and there you are taking your sweet time!”

“I forgot to shave my legs! I couldn’t have the guy seeing these babies all gross and hairy!” Lance protested.

Allura’s face softened slightly, “I guess that’s understandable. Now, sit.”

Lance sat down quietly in the seat Allura motioned towards. She didn’t hesitate in brushing down his soft white hair with one of the many hairbrushes Lance owned.

Carefully, Allura placed his crown upon his head, adjusting the hair so it looked less messy. Something only Allura could ever accomplish. For betrothal meetings, typically, wearing jewelry was not allowed. But, there was an exception for the earrings Allura was hooking into his already pierced ears. It was once his mothers set of earrings. In fact, they were the ones she wore when she met Alfor. She gave them to Lance before she died from a sickness that overtook the kingdom a long time ago. Lance’s face fell at the thought.

“I miss her too…” Allura stated softly, pausing in her efforts to beautify Lance, “but she would be so proud of you for being so strong with this.”

Lance forced a smile, “Don’t make me cry ‘Llura, I won’t forgive you.” He was obviously joking, grinning at Allura in the mirror. 

Allura only frowned, “you don’t have to act with me Lance. I know you are upset by all of this.” She set down the brush and crouched in front of Lance to make eye contact, “I was terrified at the thought of my marriage with Romelle as well. It’s not the easiest thing to accept out of the blue like this. Don’t freak yourself out though. I’ve heard a lot about this Prince Keith. He supposedly helps around his kingdom as often as he can, that means that he is kind hearted. Which is a good trait to have, right?”

“Yeah.” Lance smiled, relaxing a little, “thanks Allura, you always know what to say.”

Allura gave him a soft smile and pulled him into a short hug. “Let’s go, we don’t want to be late for the Prince’s arrival.” She pulled back from the hug and winked before wrapping a removable cloak around his shoulders and grabbing Lance’s hand, dragging him to the Throne room.

It felt a little weird to be walking barefoot and so exposed though the castle, even with the cloak covering his body. Especially since he had to stand in front of his father like this.

They strode into the throne room confidently, walking straight to their father. The two siblings bowed towards their father as they stood in front of him. Lance keeping from making direct eye contact.

“You look very handsome Lance. A lot like your mother.” Alfor said tiredly.

“Thank you father.” Lance spoke clearly, still avoiding eye contact.

Before anyone could say anything more, one of the guards at the doors announced the new arrivals, “Introducing, Prince Keith of the Galra Kingdom, and his bodyguard, Takashi Shirogane!”

All eyes looked towards the door in anticipation, when the two strangers walked through the door, Lance’s breath was taken away from him.

Because, walking into the room, was the most beautiful prince he had ever seen. He was surprised to see the Prince looked more human than Galra, except for a purple marking on his right cheek, and his large, fluffy, purple ears. The guy looked a little taller than Lance, his pose determined and a bit stiff. His long black hair was tied back into a pony tail, and his physique was sadly covered by his own red cloak. But, Lance supposed he would have time to oogle the new arrivals body later. They made eye contact briefly, but to Lance’s surprise, the supposed ‘kind hearted’ prince, rolled his eyes at Lance. ROLLED HIS EYES.

That little action pissed Lance off, sending the Galra Prince a hard glare in return. He bowed politely after Allura whacked him with her elbow in the ribcage, curtsying as if nothing happened.

Two seconds into seeing the guy and Lance could already tell he was a complete DICK. No way would they make it through this first meeting.

“Welcome Prince Keith, Takashi. Please make yourself at home during your stay here.” Alfor’s voice boomed throughout the room, “Prince Keith? Prince Lance? Please follow your personal bodyguard to the gardens so you can become aquainted.”

Both boys sent glares in each others directions before following their respective bodyguards to the gardens. Lance could find his way there just fine on his own, but no doubt was this for ‘safety’. His personal bodyguard was a very chill guy, his name was Adam and he always had the best jokes for Lance. But as they walked towards the gardens, the newcomers hot on their tails, Lance noticed that Adam’s face was slightly red.

“Adam?” Lance asked, poking the guy on the shoulder, “are you still sick? You look a bit… red.”

Adam’s face only darkened a shade, “Lance, we can talk about this later.” Adam whispered harshly, sending a glance behind them.

Lance looked as well, following Adam’s gaze to the men hanging back ten feet behind them. Lance smirked knowingly, “oh I get it. Handsome bodyguard with ripped muscles is behind us. He’s probably checking out your a-“

Adam shoved a hand over Lance’s mouth before he could finish his sentence. “Finish that sentence and you won’t survive our next sparing lesson.” Adam muttered under his breath before slowly removing his had from Lance’s face, probably realizing that his behavior wasn’t the most appropriate with guests around.

But he couldn’t stop the prince as Lance whirled around and sent a big wave to the bodyguard before pointing at Adam and giving the built guy a wink and a thumbs up. He was pleased to see Keith give him a shocked expression and Takashi’s face go a shade of red before he was yanked forward by Adam.

He forced back his laughter as he saw Adam’s face was a deep red from embarrassment. Adam scolded him for his ‘un-princely behavior’ until they made it outside into the gardens.

Takashi and Adam took Lance and Keith’s cloaks respectively, finally revealing the betrothal clothing. “Behave yourself Prince. We will be over here to give you a bit of privacy, call out if you need us.” Adam stated before walking off with Takashi in tow.

It was just him and Keith now. Lance walked over to a short brick wall that guarded a small area of pumpkin plants that seemed to be blooming at this point in the year. He sat down upon the wall, crossing his legs as he sent Keith a glare that was quickly returned.

Keith assumed a more confident pose, his hands on his hips as he glared Lance down. 

Suddenly, the guy spoke, “why are you glaring at me? It is extremely rude.”

Lance scoffed, ignoring the way his heart fluttered at the prince’s voice, “Maybe because when we made eye contact, you rolled your eyes! Which is a terrible first impression if you ask me.” Lance folded his arms, he knew he was being childish but he didn’t care too much at the moment.

“I rolled my eyes because your mouth was open like a fish!” Keith steamed, his bottom lip stuck out a little bit which shouldn’t be cute, like, at all.

“Oh I’m sorry I decided that, ‘hey this guy is kinda attractive!’” Lance retaliated, “So excuse me for thinking that!”

Keith’s face erupted in a blush, his ears fluffing up slightly. “Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot.” Keith sighed deeply, “I don’t want this anymore than you do. But can we start over?”

“I’ve already decided I don’t like you, but I guess we can.” Lance muttered, he stood and faced Keith, standing up straight and grabbing Keith’s hand, “My name is Lance of the Altean Kingdom.” Lance kissed Keith’s hand before dropping it unceremoniously and taking the time to look over Keith’s body. 

The guy was well built, defined biceps and abs made his body very pleasing to look at. Lance also noticed that Galran markings were not all over his body. They all were grouped in threes, from what Lance could see, they were on his biceps, forearms, and calves. Miya did good work on the leggings, they hugged his frame snuggly, showing off all of his muscles and curves.

Keith blushed at Lance’s eyes raking over his body, ears fluffing out of being so flustered, and managed to mutter out, “Prince Keith, of the Galra Kingdom. Nice to meet you.”

“And to you as well.” Lance stated simply, tearing is eyes from Keith’s body, “would you like to accompany me around the garden?” Lance offered out his arm for Keith to hold.

“I would be happy to.” Keith replied mechanically, taking Lance’s extended arm awkwardly.

They walked around the gardens in uncomfortable silence, asking random questions with no real meaning behind them. 

By the time they finished their round, Lance quickly dropped Keith’s arm, as if it burned him. “I think Adam and Takashi are having a better time than we are.” Lance stated suddenly, his eyes looking at something behind Keith.

Keith looked to see Takashi and Adam talking quietly underneath an apple tree, both with goofy smiles upon their faces.

“He prefers to be called Shiro if you wouldn’t mind.” Keith said quietly, gaze still focused on the two underneath the tree.

Lance sputtered a bit, looking at Keith confused. “I uhm- alright. Shiro it is I guess.”

Keith made eye contact with Lance once again, and Lance was struck with just how pretty the guys eyes were. In the outdoor light, they seemed to almost be a purple gray hue. It suited the galra prince very well. Curse Lance’s luck of having an unbelievably attractive to be husband who happens to be the ultimate dick. (Even though he could be sweet at times. But Lance would never admit that).

“What’s that look for?” Keith growled.

“Nothing!” Lance felt a slight blush take over his face, “how about this, we pretend to fully get along for the better of the kingdoms. So in the open we act all loving towards each other like we’re a match made in heaven, but when we’re alone we can despise each other as much as we want. It’d make both of our families and kingdoms super happy and we could just avoid each other like the plague when we get married.”

Keith seemed to ponder Lance’s proposition for a minute, a hand to his chin and his eyes deep in thought. He even had the slightest pout as he thought about it. “Fine. But we need to work out what we can do in public or not. Like, at one point we will have to kiss to prove what we feel.” Keith made figure quotes around the word ‘feel’, “Plus, we cannot tell anyone about our fake relationship. Not even siblings or bodyguards. Do you swear to abide by these rules?” Keith held his hand out to shake on it.

“I swear. “ Lance took Keith’s hand and shook it, “tonight, act as if you’re kinda iffy about this whole thing but also like you may be slightly interested, okay?”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Keith frowned, letting go of Lance’s hand awkwardly before clearing his throat, “do you know what ‘activity’ we are doing tomorrow?”

“I think we may be going on a horse back ride tomorrow. I personally can’t wait to meet your steed. They’ll be better than you.”

Keith glowered, “Bet yours would look better in that outfit then you.”

Lance ignored the sting in his heart from that comment. They glared at one another, bowing stiffly, concluding their outside meeting. Which meant that all they had to do was go to dinner and then they could finally rest for the day. Adam and Shiro approached the two princes, seeing that they were concluding their first meeting.

The two guards both wore deep blushes on their faces, to which, Lance and Keith just traded looks at each other. Barely containing their laughter.

“Follow me to your rooms so you can prepare for dinner.” Adam said with a smile, addressing everyone at once. 

Lance followed close to Adam, trying to keep up pace so he could tease him. But Adam only whispered a, “We can talk about it later” as they all walked briskly down the hallways. They reached Shiro’s room first, one of the many suites in the castle, and Keith’s room was right next door. The bedrooms were technically connected to each other by a door on the inside, which was nice for the two uptight men.

They bowed respectively to each other before Lance was whisked away by Adam to his own room. And Lance didn’t waste a second in talking to Adam about Shiro.

“Is he your boyfriend now?” Lance asked, a shit eating grin on his face.

Adam blushed, “L-Lance!” He stuttered, “you can’t ask such questions! You are royalty, act the part!”

“That wasn’t a no!” Lance yelled as he suddenly sprinted down the hall to avoid Adam’s wrath. He only heard his name get yelled out before he booked it around a few corners. He knew this castle like the back of his hand.

Sure, he almost ran into quite a few servants, but he would quickly apologize then keep running. Needless to say, he made his way to his room quite easily. Thanks long legs.

Lance was pissed. Keith’s rude ass comment made his blood boil in resentment. Sure, he’ll admit he started it but, to say that he looked bad in his own outfit was kinda offensive. And to think, that he was slightly interested in the Galran Prince.

Lance stormed to his bed and smothered his face into his pillow, letting out an angry scream.

He felt a lot better after that. It was good for a prince to let out his frustrations privately. Deep breath Lance. All you have to do is go to dinner and then you can finally relax. 

Lance took his time getting ready for dinner. He changed out of the gorgeous betrothal clothes that Miya had made him, neatly folding and placing them in his closet. Then, got himself dressed into his regular ‘princely’ clothing. He was starting to feel slightly queasy at the thought of seeing Keith again so soon.

He walked slowly down the halls towards the dining room, starting to become dizzy now. The guards opened the doors for him after softly scolding him for being late. 

Lance avoided eye contact with everyone, keeping his head up and his walk as royal as he could, back straight, head up, eyes forward. He sat in his regular seat next to Allura, not missing the small look of concern she shot his way. 

No one said anything except for Alfor, who announced that everyone could eat now.

Lance tried to eat, but every time he took a bite, he felt like he was going to be sick. He gave up at one point, deciding to just push the food around on his plate instead.

“Lance?” Allura asked in a hushed tone, “are you feeling alright? You look a bit pale.” 

Lance only responded with a slight shake of his head. Allura quickly took over, making her way towards their father whispering something in his ear. Alfor gave Lance a concerned glance and looked him over before sending a slight nod his way. 

Lance took that as permission to leave and got out of the room quickly, avoiding all eye contact once again as he made his way out of the room, head starting to spin alarmingly. 

When he got to his room, he didn’t expect to throw up (luckily he made it to the toilet). Feeling a lot better after that, Lance went to lay down upon his bed. He didn’t actually get sick, thanks to the amazing Altean immune system. But usually, if a lot of emotions and stress were put on an Altean, their bodies would release the negative feelings with ‘sickness’. But this never really lasted for more than a few hours at a time. Which was a relief to Lance, because he couldn’t miss a single ‘date’ with Keith. They had to make this all believable. Plus, they didn’t have time to delay any dates, with so few to start with. They had two weeks of dating before one of them had to pop the question to avoid the war. Two weeks. Not a lot of time.

But, all is fair, in love or war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took forever to upload this chapter but it's here now!


	3. Horses and One Rude Prince

The next morning wasn’t any different from Lance’s usual mornings. He woke up, got himself dressed, then headed to breakfast.

It almost surprised him to see the Galra prince sitting so casually at the breakfast table. Well, he says casually but, really, Keith was sitting pretty rigid and tense. 

“Good morning Lance,” Alfor greeted with his most charming smile, “are you feeling better today?”

“Yes father,” Lance forced a smile onto his face, “I feel much better now, thank you for your concern.”

“I’m glad, rumor has it that you two will be riding horseback today.” Alfor smiled and winked at Lance, “which I know is one of your favorite things to do.”

Lance smiled towards his father then sat down in his regular seat.

Noticing Allura’s absence, he asked, “father, where is Allura today?”

“She went to visit Romelle for a week or so,” Alfor chuckled a bit, “she also asked me to tell you that she has planned an outfit for your outing today. Something about her being the better fashionista or something like that.”

Lance gasped, acting offended, “Well, I never!” That was a little joke in their family. Whenever there was a ball, one of the older ladies in the room would never fail to say that phrase loudly during a quiet song or in between songs. So, they made a habit of saying it jokingly whenever the opportunity arose.

A soft snort came from the other side of the table, Lance looked to see Keith covering his mouth with his hand and Shiro looking like he was trying his best not to smile.

“It’s a joke,” Lance defended himself, “you wouldn’t get it.” Then he went back to eating his breakfast, a small smile on his face from making some people laugh. It always warmed Lance’s heart when he could make someone laugh, especially a stanger.

By the time breakfast was over, Lance excused himself to find the outfit that Allura was recommending for the day. He would never admit it out loud but, Lance secretly loved when his sister would choose outfits for him, she was amazing at it.

Lance walked into her room, knowing that she would have placed it on her own bed so Lance could get it if he chose to. He picked up the neatly folded pile at the foot of her bed.

The clothes were simple and flexible, they were some of the thinner materials that Lance owned. That meant that he wouldn’t be dying of heat before he even got on his horse.

Lance took the clothing to his own bedroom before getting dressed.

These were one of his favorite pairs of riding clothes, the blue top with a slightly high collar, elbow length sleeves, and some thin white riding pants. He made sure to put on his crown since he was going out into public, then headed out.

He barely got out of his door before he was scared half to death by Adam.

“Hello your highness. Ready to head out for the day?” Adam asked calmly, but Lance could see that evil smirk hidden under the façade that Adam held.

“ADAM!” Lance jumped, “Don’t do that!”

“Come along princy! Royalty awaits!” Adam yelled, already making his way down the hallway.

This had to be payback from yesterday, Lance sighed but let Adam win for the day. He was already tired and he hadn’t even made it to the stables.

Lance wasn’t surprised to see Keith and Shiro waiting atop their horses for them to arrive. Lance rolled his eyes, annoyed, and went to get his horse, Kaltenecker. 

Kaltenecker was Lance’s favorite horse in the stables, she only let Lance ride him but was very calm around other people. A beautiful gypsy breed horse, spotted black and white like a cow would be, and Lance, being the beauty queen he is, added a cute little pink bow on the bottom of her tail.

Kaltenecker nickered as Lance approached him, nuzzling her nose on Lance’s face as soon as he was close enough. Lance giggled, petting his affectionate horse softly on the muzzle.

The stable boys or girls had already saddled Kaltenecker, and Lance could see the fire in the horse’s eyes at the thought of heading outside.

Lance grabbed the lead and headed outside with his steed. Adam already had his own horse ready to go, mounted and everything. Lance took his time, neatly mounting his own horse, trying not to fall and embarrass himself. He’s never fallen off of a steed before but, he could be quite clumsy at times. 

“That’s a beautiful horse your highness. Where’d you get ‘em?” Shiro asked, which kinda surprised Lance, since this was the first time he was addressed by the man.

“Please, call me Lance. No need for formalities here.” Lance said with a smile, “this is Kaltenecker, I’ve known her since she was born. She’s a gypsy breed, and she knows how beautiful she is so she’s very outgoing.” Lance gently hugged his horse around her neck, taking in the scent of hay and grass that he had grown so accustomed to over the years with her. He sat up straight in his saddle, giving everyone his most bedazzling grin, “shall we head out?”

 

Lance was starting to get tired of how Keith never talked. The guy barely said a word since they’ve started riding! And, it was starting to drive Lance up a wall.

Adam and Shiro had already fallen behind them about 20 feet, probably to give them ‘privacy’.

“What’s your horse’s name?” Lance asked, trying to make conversation.

“Kosmo.” Keith responded.

Lance waited a minute to see if Keith would add anything else to that sentence. Then, giving up, “No, tell me about your horse. How long you’ve had him, what his breed is, his favorite treat. Anything! Please! You’re killing me here with your brooding attitude.” Lance pouted, slightly angry, “if we are going to pretend to like each other, then you need to at least act the part.”

“You’re annoying.” Keith deadpanned, side eyeing Lance. 

Lance only gave a pointed look.

Keith sighed dramatically, “He’s a Grullo breed… and I’ve known him since he was born, like you. He only accepts apples as a treat though, he’s a pretty picky eater. I named his Kosmo because of his gradient of greys and black. Plus, if you look really closely, you can see these slight speckles that he has, and they kinda reminded me of stars, so that’s why I gave him the name Kosmo.” Keith had a slight smile on his face as he gently rubbed the back of his horse’s neck.

Kaltenecker wasn’t helping with Lance’s personal bubble, she seemed to gravitate to Kosmo, like a dog to a biscuit. She kept nickering at the other horse, trying to rub muzzles with him.

Lance blushed, putting an arm at the back of his own neck laughing sheepishly, “I think Kaltenecker likes Kosmo.”

“She’s gonna shove us off the path Lance.” Keith grumbed, “make her stop.”

Lance pulled on her lead, trying to get her away from the other horse. But this only resulted in Kaltenecker pulling away slightly, before she completely body bumped Keith’s horse. Lance felt their legs push together, and was pushed sideways towards Keith thanks to the momentum of his horse and her rude behavior.

Lance was pushed onto Keith, and Keith was pushed off of his own horse because of the domino effect Kaltenecker made. The pressure on their legs was released as Kaltenecker started to step away, making Lance and Keith fall to the ground.

They landed with an “oomph!” Lance falling on top of Keith, who actually had his arms around Lance’s waist as if he tried to catch him or protect him from the fall. Lance blushed as he realized that they were face to face now. Keith’s face was also red from their position, but, he seemed to recover faster than Lance and pushed the other prince off of himself rather quickly. 

“Lance! Keith! Are you alright?!” Shiro and Adam yelled as they picked up pace on their horses, skidding to a stop before the two princes.

The boys were helped up by their own bodyguards, and checked for any injury. 

“What happened Lance?” Adam asked, worried expression on his face.

“Kaltenecker happened.” Keith stated, glaring at Lance as he said it.

“Hey! Don’t talk about my horse like that! You should feel honored that she likes your horse so much that she kicks us both off our horses!” Lance argued, officially pissed. “You can’t blame her for her actions! It’s breeding season asshat!”

“Lance!” Adam squawked at Lance’s outburst. Shiro and Keith looked as if Lance had offered his life for a stick or something.

“No. I’m done.” Lance stated as he stode over to his horse, getting on her back smoothly. “I don’t like this one bit. Being forced to spend time with such a snob that he blames me for my horse’s actions. And it’s not her fault either. I’ll be at the castle if you need me.”

Lance spurred his horse into a full gallop, ignoring the shouts of his name, sprinting his way back to the castle with tears in his eyes. Damn Keith. Blaming Lance for it being breeding season. Like Lance could control the feelings his horse had. It was bullshit.

He was done for the day, and since he was out of the walls, instead of actually heading towards the castle, he made his way to Pidge’s cottage that sat on the outside of town, relatively close to the castle.

Stopping Kaltenecker outside the small cottage, he jumped off and tied his horse to the nearest post. He knocked loudly on the door, hoping someone was home.

“Hello?” Pidge asked as she opened the door, rubbing some grease or oil off of her hands. Her eyes brightened when she saw that the visitor was Lance. “Lance! How’d you get here without getting in trouble? Hunk! Lance is here!” She opened the door wider, allowing Lance inside.

Once they all settled from hugs and excitement, Lance sat his friends down and relayed the past few days of events to them. They seemed torn from being excited or upset for him, until he got to the part of Keith blaming him for breeding season. Then both Hunk and Pidge looked as if they were gonna try and fight the rude prince.

“Lance, I’m sorry… this must be really hard on you.” Hunk sympathized.

After a little bit of comfort from both his friends, which he accepted gratefully, they joked around and laughed for a bit. 

Pidge was the one to point out how late it was getting, the sun barely starting to set. Lance sighed, knowing he wouldn’t be able to see him friends again until this whole fiasco was over. Reluctantly, they all said their goodbyes, Lance jumping onto his horse and running back to the castle, knowing Adam was probably going to kill him for multiple things today. His profanity, running off unsupervised, lying about where he was going, being outside the castle walls, etc. 

Lance braced himself as he made his way into the walls, then into the stables. He quietly took off Kaltenecker’s reigns, saddle, and any other equipment, then fed the horse a few oats, apples, and carrots. Spoiling the horse who had done so much for him that day.

As he walked through the stables, he saw Kosmo and couldn’t resist in attempting to pet the cutie. He was a gorgeous horse, so Lance held his hand out carefully, letting the horse choose to let them touch. Kosmo only slightly sniffed Lance’s extended hand then pushed his soft nose onto Lance’s fingers.

He pet the magnificent creature for a few minutes, letting himself calm down a bit. Inhaling the soft scent of hay and grass, and listening to the soft nickering of the horses around him.

Finally, after calming himself enough to face the wrath of his father and Adam, Lance left the stables and headed towards the castle. 

He got inside and to his room with no problem. None of the guards stopped him really, just rushed off, probably to tell everyone that he was back and not dead.

It was dinner time, but Lance decided he wasn’t hungry, plus he didn’t want to face the humiliation of his actions in front of everyone just yet.

He sat down on his bed with a sigh of relief. But that relief was gone within a second.

“Where’d you go your highness.” Adam suddenly spoke out, the quiet guy was calmly sitting on the windowsill, not looking at Lance directly.

Lance knew Adam was pissed for two reasons. One, he said ‘your highness’ which he only uses in formal or angry settings. Two, he didn’t ask it as a question, he made it a statement. 

Gulping nervously, Lance stuttered an answer, “h-hey Adam! Fancy seeing you here! Man I- I’m so tired! Probably should go to bed you know?” Lance was unconsciously rubbing the material of his shirt between his fingers, a nervous habbit he had.

Adam only gave him a pointed look, waiting for Lance to crack and explain himself.

“Look I just,” Lance started a statement, ready to just get this over with, “I just… Keith is so rude and snobbish! He blames me for the dumbest things and- and I just can’t stand it! I needed time to cool off so I- I went to Pidge and Hunk’s place. I know you’re probably pissed because I embarrassed you and made us look bad as a kingdom. I’m sorry…”

“And just how many times has Keith blamed you for dumb things?” Adam asked, not phased by Lance’s apology.

“Well I mean, our first meeting he blamed me for gawking at him… and the horse thing today…” Lance muttered, ashamed at himself.

“Were you gawking at him?” Adam questioned.

“Duh.” Lance deadpanned, “I thought he was hot! Of course I was going to gawk at him!”

“I’ve heard enough.” Adam stated, standing and striding towards the door, he paused before leaving, “and Lance? Expect a… ‘special’ date tomorrow.”

Lance groaned, he already had an idea what this could be, and it wasn’t the best news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to update faster.... XD sorry!!!!!!!!!


	4. Locked In

When Lance woke up the next morning, he did not expect to be awoken by a terrible sound of scuffling, a slam of his door, banging on his door, and some extremely crude words he dare not repeat.

He forced himself to sit up with a groan of frustration trying to see what was happening, fortunately, this is when the yelling started.

“What the quiznak Adam! You can’t do this!” Keith shouted through the door, Lance could see Keith’s muscular arms straining as they fought against a closed and locked door.

Before you ask, the lock for Lance’s room is outside of his room so people can lock him in when he tries to escape. Yeah it’s a bit unfair but, Lance was a troublemaker. It was one of the only solutions that didn’t require a 24/7 bodyguard.

“Actually I can!” A muffled voice responded, probably Adam, “Shiro had agreed to this yesterday, and I have talked to everyone in the castle! They’ve agreed this may be the best way for you two to work out your differences!”

“Two of-“ Keith started to mutter, looking around the room, then stopped as he realized Lance’s presence.

Lance sent Keith a glare, then got out of his warm, comfortable, bed to join in on yelling at Adam. “Couldn’t this wait until later? Maybe, oh I don’t know… AFTER breakfast?!”

“I’m glad you’re awake Lance! Breakfast will be here in around half an hour, have fun!” Adam yelled, his footsteps becoming quieter as he walked off.

Keith made eye contact with Lance briefly, before groaning and stomping off as far from Lance as he could get.

Lance ignored him, favoring to sleep a little longer as he made his way to his bed. He flopped down on the squishy mattress, promptly wrapping himself in blankets. Sighing in content, Lance closed his eyes and attempted to drift off.

“You’re just going to go to bed?” Keith grumbled, “you do realize that we’re probably stuck in here until we get along, right?”

Lance ignored him, determined to not say a thing until the cocky and rude prince apologized for his behavior.

“Okay just ignore me then.” Keith mumbled. 

Another thing you should know about Lance, he likes his room cold. It helps him sleep really well, and he has a shit ton of blankets to curl up in, so he’s perfectly content with it. Don’t ask how it stays cold though, something about ice and natural wind and stuff. That’s why he wasn’t surprised at all when Keith asked, “why is your room so cold?” 

Lance could hear the chatter of Keith’s teeth, and the constant rustle of trying to warm himself up. He huffed before he sat up, grabbed one of the thicker blankets off his bed, and shuffled over to Keith. The prince looked confused before Lance threw the blanket over Keith’s head, earning a squawk of surprise before turning on his heel and curling up in his warm bed once more.

A soft, “thanks” was whispered from Keith, which surprised Lance, but he didn’t move.

It was quiet for a while, the two princes sitting in the quiet, cold, bedroom.

“Lance?” Keith spoke suddenly, “Can you at least look at me so I can tell you something?”

Sighing heavily, Lance sat up, wrapping blankets around himself. He gave a ‘go on’ gesture with his hand, watching Keith fidget and squirm in his seat.

“I just…” Keith started, “I want to… apologize… for yesterday. And the day before.” He scratched the back of his neck, peaking out at Lance through those beautiful long eyelashes, his fluffy, purple ears pressed back flat on his head. “I know I was a jerk, and it was uncalled for. I’ve been rude and distant, and you deserve to know the truth.”

Keith sighed, waiting a bit before speaking again, probably controlling his emotions. “This marriage has been arranged and planned since I was eight. But no one told me since last week. Immediately after I was told, I was being shipped off here to meet and marry you.” He stood up and started pacing the room, the thick blanket draped over his shoulders. “I was mad and determined to hate you. In fact, I thought you were going to be some sort of fat, selfish, slob that would just use me. No one told me your age or anything about you, so I didn’t know what to expect. But my grandmother was forced to marry a fat, selfish, slob of the Galran kingdom so I didn’t have high hopes for anything. I was scared… and I know that sounds like an excuse but… I’m sorry anyway.” Keith avoided looking at Lance, seemingly ashamed of his story.

Lance could forgive everything except two things, “Okay wait, first of all, this was planned since I was seven!? Second of all, you thought I was going to be a fat, selfish, snob?!”

Keith looked confused, “I thought they would’ve told you how long this has been planned?”

“No! I learned a day before you were to arrive, and everyone told me that this was recent planning!” Lance complained, throwing off his blankets and standing.

Just then, a maid unlocked the door and placed their breakfast on the nearest table. She looked at them frozen in place, then giggled and left the room. Locking the door behind her.

“I-“ Keith started, shaking his self out of his stupor, “I thought everyone knew by this point? Everyone was waiting for us to come of age. And I’m sorry for not thinking you were going to be attractive…” Keith was picking at his sleeves now, that’s when Lance noticed they were both still in night clothes. 

Slightly embarrassed, “I guess I was left out… again.” Lance grumbled, then, realizing what Keith last said, “wait… you admit that you think I’m attractive?”

Keith’s face bloomed a brilliant shade of red, “I- uhm” He stuttered, avoiding Lance’s eyes.

Lance laughed at Keith’s embarrassment, “C’mon man, wanna get out of here?”

“What?” Keith asked, following Lance to the wardrobe. 

“You seriously don’t think I haven’t been locked in my room before?” Lance asked, laughing softly as he picked up a trail of rope hidden under a pile of clothes, “I’m considered a troublemaker, of course I have an escape route from my room.”

“You’re windows don’t open Lance. How do you expect to get out?” Keith asked, crossing his arms as he followed Lance back in the direction of the bed.

“Castles always have secret passageways.” Lance smirked as he pushed in a certain cobblestone on the wall, the wall opening like a door.

He laughed at Keith’s look of shock, “stick with me and I’ll show you whichever ones you want to know about. I’m trusting you with this.”

Keith only nodded dumbly in response, following Lance though the dark passageway.

“Can you see?” Keith asked as they walked, the darkness consuming them. (Keith has amazing eyesight in the dark by the way, comes with the galra bloodline.)

“Oh yeah, totally forgot.” Lance mumbled before pausing in the corridor. He focused on the love he had for his mother, his sister, his people. He felt a warmth seep through his body, he opened his eyes to see the hall lit in a soft blue light. The light emanating from his Altean markings.

“H-how did you do that?” Keith asked, wonder in his voice.

“If an altean focuses on who they love, or if they realize who they love, their markings glow.” Lance explained, “right now, I’m focusing on my family and my people.”

“Beautiful…” Keith muttered.

Lance could feel a blush take over from being complimented, the small corridor illuminated a little brighter from the blush.

“I saw that.” Keith said, Lance could just hear the shit eating grin on his face.

“Oh shut up!” Lance snapped, gently pushing Keith away, his marks getting a little brighter along with the blush taking over his face.

The thing about markings, if an Altean was able to light them up, they tuned into their current emotions. Which meant that if you blushed, they grew brighter. If you got upset in any way, they would get dimmer. You couldn’t hide emotions with them lit.

Keith chuckled as they made their way through the passageway.

Maybe taking your future husband into a dark and dingy hallway wasn’t the best idea. Especially if you claim that you know where you’re going when you really don’t.

There were cobwebs all along the floors and ceiling, and the floor was practically caked in dust. To be honest, Lance hadn’t actually used this passageway in years. There wasn’t a point really after everyone stopped trying to lock him up.

“Lance?” Keith asked tentatively, “are you sure you know where you’re going? Because this place doesn’t look like its been used in years.”

“It’s supposed to be a surprise,“ Lance lied.

“You’re a terrible liar.” Keith deadpanned.

“Am not!” Lance retaliated, “how would you know if I’m lying or not? We’ve only known each other for two days!”

“Your face goes red when you lie. Also, you tend to avoid eye contact when you lie, and look towards people when you tell the truth.” Keith said, “Your marks grew brighter as well.”

Lance stayed quiet, this guy was good. Too good.

This was where Lance actually started to look around and attempt to gain his bearings. He noticed a tiny hole of light a little ways ahead on his right. He strode towards the small dot and peeped through it. This gave him a small view of the throne room, just enough to see his father.

“What did you find?” Keith asked, edging closer to Lance.

“Oh just the throne room,” Lance shrugged, moving aside to let Keith take a look, “this is where I used to spy on my father and see what he was up to. Nothing interesting ever really happened though. I have an idea of where we are now, and I have a great idea.”

Lance explained the plan to Keith as they walked briskly through the hallways. He finished explaining right as they made it to the secret entrance/exit in the kitchen. Lance was also happy to see Keith with a smile on his face.

Lance pulled on one of the torch holders, which opened the hidden doorway. 

This part of the kitchen was kind of small, since only pastries and bread was made in this part. They snuck around the counter that was in the middle of the room. No one was in there, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious.

They edged their way towards the pastry rack, mouths watering at the sight. Of course, they were a bickering, giggly mess as they picked their way through the kitchen. Which wasn’t very stealthy.

Keith handed Lance a small basket he found on the counter, which Lance took gratefully. He snuck the rest of the way towards the goodies, giggling as he went.

Stuffing quite a bit into the basket, he turned to get back to Keith. But, Keith’s finger was over his lips in a ‘shh’ gesture, and his ears were perked up. 

Lance strained to listen but couldn’t hear a thing, which is unfair if you ask him.

Suddenly, Keith straightened up, grabbed Lance’s wrist, and ran to the secret exit. They were both laughing, hearts pounding from adrenaline as the door shut behind them.

“Chef…” Keith panted for air, “he was coming.”

“Oh yeah,” Lance heaved, “he can be pretty mean if he catches you. Thanks for the save.”

“Yeah I-“ Keith paused, smiling, “that was fun.”

“We make a pretty good team man.” Lance said with a wink as they made their way back to Lance’s room, an easy path of dusty footprints led the way.

Keith chucked, not far behind Lance, “yeah, I guess we do.”

When they got back to Lance’s room, they sat on his bed and nibbled on their hard earned treats. If anything, Lance thought that maybe Keith wasn’t so bad after all.

“So,” Keith started, wiping crumbs from his mouth, “what was the rope for?”

Lance paused from eating his treat, “I thought we would find a window and sneak off grounds, but the kitchen came first.” He shrugged, taking a huge bite out of the jelly pastry.

“Next time then.” Keith stated, munching his own jelly pastry.

Lance almost choked on his food, but, since he was a cool, graceful guy, he didn’t. Barely.

When Adam came to get them later, he was quite surprised to see the two princes getting along. They were still bickering constantly, but it was good that the glaring had died down.

If they couldn’t become lovers, at least they could be friends?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! It's been busy with graduation stuff going on! I'm sorry, and I hope to get back to regular writing soon!


	5. This is Fine

        Today was the day!

         Freedom from endless dates and fully planned days were done for two days!

Of course, Lance already had the day planned out. An entire day without Keith! Look, he has to cherish every single one of these days. Since he’s getting married to the guy and all that crap.

Needless to say, Lance practically leaped out of bed. In record time he was dressed and sprinting down the halls for breakfast.

He practically burst into the dining room, quickly gaining some composure and slightly skipping to his seat. Ignoring the fact that Keith and Shiro were present.

“Good morning Lance,“ Alfor said cheerfully, smiling brightly, “you seem excited today, may I ask why?”

Lance swallowed the eggs in his mouth before answering giddily, “Hunk and Pidge are to arrive soon, I want to meet them at the gate.” He stuffed more food into his mouth eating quickly, but also, somehow, keeping that princely vibe about him.

Alfor laughed heartily, “just please don’t choke on your eggs Lance.” The king paused for a second, then added quietly, just for Lance to hear, “do you forgive me at all?”

Stopping the train of food he had coming for his mouth, Lance thought for a second.

Was he still mad at his father? Yes. Can he blame him? Not really. In all, Lance knew that his father was trying to protect him, and let him have a bit of a childhood. Overall, he was a bit late in the delivery but, Lance couldn’t blame him too much. They’re lucky that he can even make it to breakfast every morning despite how busy his schedule is.

“You know what, I do forgive you.” Lance responded quietly, “I’m sorry for being so rude but, I just wish that you would’ve told me that this has been planned since I was a child. But it’s alright. I’m glad you found a way to tell me. Even if your delivery was a bit late.”

Alfor smiled. Not just any smile, the big smile that no one ever really sees. It’s the smile that says I’m proud of you, I love you, and so much more. He stood, his arms outstretched.

Of course, Lance stood as well, soaking in his father’s embrace. It wasn’t every day he got a hug from his dad. And, there may have been a tiny, eensie weensie, little bit, of some tearing up in that hug.

They pulled apart, both smiling wide at each other, marks glowing. Lance’s light blue, while his father’s were a darker blue hue.

They caught both Shiro and Keith looking at them in surprise. Probably because of the blue glow emanating from them both. Needless to say, they didn’t contain their laughter very well.

“Sorry about the display gentlemen,” Alfor chuckled, “we have a lot of love in our kingdom. Especially at night.” Alfor said with a wink in Lance’s direction.

Lance choked on his water, “FATHER!” Too late, his marks glowed a bright blue, bright enough to spot someone’s vision. (His marks hadn’t fully gone out from the touching father son moment).

He hid his face behind his hands, peaking at Keith through his fingers. The other Prince was an amazing shade of red. His ears fluffed to the max, and seemingly attempting to melt into the floor.

Both boys avoided eye contact for the rest of breakfast. But that didn’t stop Lance from noticing his father and Shiro barely being able to contain their laughter.

“Alright!” Lance announced suddenly, startling everyone in the room, “I got to run! May I be excused?”

“O-of course Lance, Bottom of the line, you shouldn’t be late.” Alfor choked out, trying not to laugh.

“Dad. Never ever, make a sex joke again. That sucked.” Lance deadpanned, walking out the door quickly. He paused before opening it. “Keith, as royalty, I give you permission to leave the table since this disaster won’t stop anytime soon.”

Keith gave Lance the most grateful look ever seen, before practically jumping from his seat and speed walking from the room. The second the door closed, the dining room was filled with howling laughter from Alfor and Shiro distinctly.

The two princes walked down the hall side by side. Trying to ignore the echoing laughter behind them. Lance slowed in his steps, Keith following. Thinking aloud, “I don’t think I would be the bottom in this relationship…” Lance muttered, loud enough for Keith to hear him.

Keith paused in his walking for a moment, looking over his shoulder to make eye contact with Lance. Then, with lighting fast speed, pinned Lance to the wall. Both arms extended by either side of his head, and a knee dangerously close to his crotch.

“Are you sure about that princey?” Keith growled by Lance’s ear, his hot breath grazing the shell of Lance’s ear.

Lance shuddered a bit. Totally just from the proximity! Not anything else could be the reason for that!

“K-Keith…” Lance wheezed, throat dry. He swallowed, “someone is going to see us and get the wrong idea.”

“And just who could see this right now?” Keith asked, his voice husky.

“I- Uhm…” Lance stuttered, realizing that there was no one else in this hallway, which meant no one was around.

“That’s what I thought.” Keith whispered, suddenly releasing Lance. “Who’s a bottom now?” Keith smirked, winked, and walked away, hips swaying hypnotically.

Lance stood paralyzed for a minute, just watching Keith walk away. Finally able to catch his breath he didn’t realize he was holding, when Keith walked around the corner.

The heavy beating of his heart had to be from pure fear right? Definitely. There was no other reason his heart would beat like this.

Shaking his head out of his frozen state, Lance was quick to make his way to the grounds to greet Pidge and Hunk.

The second he arrived, the gates opened.

Forgetting Keith for a moment, Lance bounded up to the carriage that held his friends inside. He could barely contain his excitement for them to be announced.

The second both his friends stepped out of the carriage, “Pidge! Hunk!”

“LANCE!” His friends screamed simultaneously, embracing him in a hug.

There may have been a few tears from all of them.

“I missed you guys so much!” Lance said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“You have no idea how much we’ve missed you man!” Hunk exclaimed, wiping tears from his own eyes, “I made you cookies and everything!”

“Hunk! You do love me you beautiful human!” Lance chuckled wetly.

Lance led his friends to his room, talking as he went. Apparently, Hunk went on a nervous baking spree after Lance had gone home, overcome with a sick worry.

Lance updated them on Keith and his punishment from Adam, which was to be locked in a room with Keith. He didn’t tell them about Keith pinning him to the wall though, that would give Pidge too much leverage, the gremlin.

Speaking of, Pidge and Hunk were half breeds, like Keith. Pidge was mostly Altean, but she was also part Olkari, a smaller kingdom within the Altean boundaries. Hunk, was mostly Balmerian, but with a bit of human in his blood. For the most part, they looked very human. But, if you touched Hunk’s skin, it was tough and hard, like a rock. The Balmerians typically were within the human boarder but, you know, love knows no boundaries. And Pidge, had the *common altean marks below her eyes and, these tiny green antennas that popped out of her head. Of course, she could conceal them if she wanted to. *(Quick side note, Common markings are what every Altean has, basically, the two colored triangles below their eyes. However, if an Altean is royalty, they have many markings, like Lance. Also, Pidge’s markings are green!)

Lance was the only full breed of their friend group. But they did have one physical attribute in common, each one of them had pointy ears. Hunk’s ears were a bit larger and thicker because of his Balmerian traits. And Pidge’s, were thin, almost translucent.

“I’ve been gathering books and tech for you guys to look at,” Lance explained as he opened his bedroom door, “just because I know you guys, if you want anything, just take it.”

Pidge immediately went to Lance’s closet, which is where Lance always stored his stash for them. Hunk, however, hung back for a minute, “Lance,” Hunk whined jokingly, “you shouldn’t spoil us like this!”

“It’s alright big guy, now give me the cookies and go look around!” Lance replied, giving Hunk a side hug before taking the tray of cookies to take to the table in his room.

He loved watching his friends get excited about the books and technology pieces Lance finds for them. Whenever Lance goes into town, (which isn’t often) he’s always on the lookout for cool little knick knacks for his friends. It was just a habit and a fun thing to do at times.

Nibbling on one of the best cookies in the world, Lance watched his friends as they got excited over all the little things Lance found. Honestly, they didn’t make too much sense to him, but he just knew when he found something they would like.

A knock on the door shook him out of his thoughts, Hunk and Pidge were too distracted by their searching and didn’t notice the sudden sound. So, Lance got up and opened the door.

He was surprised to see Keith standing there with a slightly panicked look.

“Keith?” Lance asked, concerned, “is everything alright?”

“Can I hide out in here? Shiro won’t stop bothering me about what happened this morning…” Keith told him, scratching his arm and avoiding Lance’s eyes, “he won’t stop making sex jokes and it’s driving me crazy.”

“Get in.” Lance said seriously, grabbing Keith’s arm and dragging him inside.

“Pidge, Hunk, this is Keith. My… fiancé? I don’t know honestly.” Lance questioned.

Keith rolled his eyes jokingly, “right now, we are, ‘to be lovers.’ But, it’s nice to meet you two.” He bowed politely.

“Please never bow to me again.” Pidge deadpanned, to which, Hunk hit her elbow.

Keith chuckled, “I understand, it won’t happen again. Unless we’re in public, then it’s kind of unavoidable.”

Pidge smiled, “you know, I like you.”

“Well I would hope so, it’d be awkward if you didn’t.” Keith responded, giving her a grin.

“I think I just formed the most evil friend duo…” Lance muttered to Hunk.

“That you did.” Hunk mumbled back, “if we die from too many pranks, I blame you.”

Keith and Pidge launched into a whole conversation of weird creatures and theories that Lance could barely understand. But, Lance noticed, that when Keith was excited about something, he moved a lot. As of the moment, his arms were waving all around, showing his excitement physically. It was kind of… endearing.

Hunk’s face leaned into Lance’s vision, an evil smirk on his lips. “Oh I see what’s going on here.”

“What are you talking about Hunk?” Lance asked, genuinely confused.

“Oh Keith! The rudest prince I’ve ever met! I could never fall for a guy like him!” Hunk mimicked Lance in a higher tone.

“W-what?!” Lance squawked, “What makes you think that?!”

“Lance, you literally just sighed as you stared at him.” Hunk shook his head, “tell me how that isn’t you falling for him.”

“I-“ Lance paused. Did he have a crush? It couldn’t be possible. Keith was… well, Keith. The guy had a mullet, sharp nails, weird gloves without fingers, soft skin, pretty eyes, an adorable laugh, a real nice ass… wait, no, that’s wrong, he’s just feverish or something! No way, no way in Altea could he have a crush on Keith! That’s impossible! And dumb! They were just friends! Lance needed more friends anyway. “I… no, we’re just good friends?” Lance finished his sentence quietly, avoiding any eye contact.

“Whatever you say buddy.” Hunk sighed, keeping his voice down, making sure Pidge and Keith wouldn’t hear. Hunk probably could’ve screamed that aloud and the two wouldn’t have noticed, they were way too busy nerding out.

“You guys want to go duel? I bet Pidge could take on Keith and win!” Lance announced suddenly.

“You’re so on!” Pidge exclaimed, already dragging Keith out to the practice area.

Lance laughed as he followed behind them, excited to see how this would go down.

Seeing Keith in armor, was a little bit attractive, the suit broadened his shoulders, and made him look way stronger. Pidge was a different sight to see, the armor slightly too big for her structure.

But even though Pidge may look small and weak, she was a beast with a weapon. She could take down almost anyone in seconds. It probably helped that she was so small, people tended to be afraid to hurt her, and made the grave mistake of going easy on her. That was a mistake most people only took once.

“Pidge, I have to ask,” Keith spoke up as he readied himself, “are you ready to get your ass kicked? Because I don’t go easy on people.”

There was an audible gasp from Lance at Keith cursing, which no one heard, gratefully.

“I don’t know Keith. Are you ready to face me?” Pidge taunted, “because I don’t go easy on people either.”

Keith smirked in response, and Hunk signaled the fight to start.

It was a blur of silver and clashing weapons. The two seemed matched to each others skill. Which meant, this fight might take a while.

Pidge moved fast, what she lacks in height, she makes up for in speed. But, unfortunately, Keith was also fast. Of course, a prince is trained in combat the minute he can hold a sword. Mainly to protect themselves. So, when Pidge slid underneath Keith’s legs, the galran prince was fully prepared. Keith moved with ridiculous speed, kicking pidge’s sword from her hands as he spun, his sword pointed to Pidge’s throat before she could stand once more.

Everyone looked shocked, and by everyone, Lance means Pidge, Hunk, and himself.

Keith just smiled as he lowered his sword and held out a hand to help Pidge up. The girl looked shocked, frozen for a moment before she clasped Keith’s hand and got pulled up to her feet.

“Wow Keith, the only person who has ever beat me that fast was Lance. You’re pretty good.” Pidge said in awe.

“He’s that good huh?” Keith looked over to the Altean Prince, “Wanna attempt in beating me Lance?”

Lance smirked, Keith may be good, but Lance was good as well. “Alright princy. I’ll make you take back what you said this morning.”

Keith slightly blushed but set his face determinedly. Pidge and Hunk were confused of course, but that didn’t matter at the moment.

Lance stepped down to the arena, grabbing his practice sword and facing Keith.

“No armor?” Keith asked.

“Slows me down.” Lance said simply.

“If that’s how you wanna play.” Keith replied, stripping off his own armor before facing Lance again.

When Hunk called for them to start, they both went for it. Charging each other, a slight game of chicken almost.

But, at the last possible second, Lance easily rolled to the side, avoiding Keith and the attack. As well as jumping right up on his feet.

Lance could tell that Keith was slightly perplexed at what just happened, but he was able to recover quickly. Keith’s sword swung towards Lance, to which, Lance calmly blocked.

Their swords were a flurry of silver and the loud clang of metal on metal. There came a moment when Keith’s sword was caught onto Lance’s hilt. Lance only smirked, distracting the galran prince for a split second before he flicked his wrist quick and hard, sending Keith’s sword skittering across the floor. Lance’s blade already holding Keith still by the throat. Lance could see the prince’s face was red, either from exhaustion or embarrassment, but Lance still wanted the last word.

“Who’s the bottom now?” Lance said playfully, his own cheeks tinged red.

Keith smiled and rubbed his throat when Lance removed his sword. “Not bad. Didn’t expect you to be that good.”

“I’m full of surprises.” Lance replied easily as his friends came towards them in excitement.

Pidge and Hunk talked animatedly about the whole fight, saying how cool and fast it was. They had also worried Hunk for a second, with them being without armor, but the fight got too interesting to be worried, as he put it.

Keith seemed pretty impressed, saying that they should spar again sometime. Then he left, saying he had to get back to Shiro before he worried him.

It felt good to know that Lance was genuinely good at something.

Needless to say, a smile stuck on his face the rest of the day.

Of course, after dinner time, Hunk and Pidge had to leave to go home. 

“Can you guys visit again soon?” Lance asked as he walked his friends to their carriage. (It was actually his families carriage but he promised them a ride home).

“Duh,” Pidge rolled her eyes, “you’re our friend Lance, of course we’ll come back!”

“If I had the option, I would never leave!” Hunk added. “And not because of money or anything like that!”

Lance smiled, “I love you guys.”

“Love you too Lance.” They responded.

With one last hug, Lance helped Hunk and Pidge into the carriage. Waving continuously until they were off castle grounds.

Lance then walked back to the castle with a sigh. It was always hard when his friends had to leave. They were the only people outside of the castle that he could actually talk to. 

One more day of resting up and some peace and quiet before another week of dates came along.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so SO sorry for how late this update is!!!!! I have been so busy this summer and had way less time then I thought I had! I will try to do better!!!


	6. An Idea is Formed

Lance woke to a peaceful, quiet, morning.

It was quite relaxing actually, he even requested to eat breakfast in his own room to thoroughly enjoy the morning.

Sipping his tea, Lance watched the remainders of the sunrise from earlier. The fading lilac fading into the soft blue of the sky. He also noted the slightly grey clouds partly covering the sun. It was beautiful and relaxing. Just what he needed today.

After he finished his breakfast, Lance took his time in getting dressed for the day. He didn’t have to rush for anything today. Today was all about Lance. Self care and all that.

Lance walked through the corridors leisurely. Slowly making his way to the library. 

The Library was Lance’s place. If he had any spare time in the day, you could bet on him going to the library. It was his all time favorite place in the castle. Quiet, comfortable, and most importantly, no Keith. Definitely the best place to spend his time.

At least… that’s what he thought.

He made his way through the library, grabbing one of his favorite books as he went. He had a special spot in the library, a small reading nook in the far corner, a place not many could find easily.

But when Lance turned the corner to his nook, low and behold, the man, the legend, the awkward prince of no one’s dreams, was sitting in Lance’s blue chair. Lance’s chair! In his reading nook!  Any other chair would be fine! But noooo, Keith just had to plant his pretty ass in Lance’s favorite chair! How rude could you be?

Needless to say, Lance was ticked. 

Stomping his way to the Prince in question, Lance stood in front of him until he was finally noticed.

“Uhm… hi?” Keith asked, lowering his book from his face.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Reading?”

“Yeah, in my chair!” Lance yelled.

Keith blinked. Once. Twice. “What do you mean your chair? It’s not like it has your name on it or anything.”

Lance smirked, “wanna bet?”

“Prove it.” Keith scoffed, clearly not believing Lance.

Lance strode to the back of the chair, Keith in tow, and pointed out a small embroidery at the bottom left of the chairs material, where it clearly stated, ‘property of Lance’.

Keith’s eyes narrowed sharply, sending a glare Lance’s way before he stomped off to read elsewhere.

Lance settled heavily in his chair, sighing contentedly. Opening his book, he got lost in a whole other world. 

The book he was reading was all about having soulmates and these things called soulmate wings. It was a cool story about a guy who had been waiting to meet his soulmate, but it was taking too long, and he lost hope. There’s a lot more to the wings and how they meet but, you know, details details.

He must’ve been in there for quite a few hours, since he finished the book he was reading front to back and, after looking around, Keith was gone as well. 

It was about noon when Lance left the library, he knew because he saw quite a few maids running around with food trays and stuff like that. Lance made his way through the hallway towards the garden area. On his way, he almost crashed into several castle workers, but, whenever he saw someone, he would quickly try and move himself out of their way since he wasn’t an asshole prince.

The garden is beautiful this time of year, the flowers being in full bloom, all the crops almost perfectly ripe, and the smell! It always smelled of fruit and sweet flowers that could just easily brighten someone’s day. Lance’s second favorite place to be on the castle grounds. If he could read out here he would, it’s just that all the workers are constantly tending to everything and Lance would only be in their way. So he reads in the library instead. It’s just easier that way.

Lance sighed, taking it all in. He started thinking to himself about all of the future dates with Keith. Would they be fun? Or romantic? Would they make a sweet or evil couple? Will any of their dates be good? Maybe Adam and Shiro would find love along the way, since they were obviously head over heels for each other.

Lance rolled his eyes at the thought.

But, that got him thinking. What if, one of Lance and Keith’s dates, got them together? It would take some teamwork from the two princes, but maybe, just maybe, it would work.

That put a smirk on Lance’s face, immediately, he started forming a plan.

It starts with swimming, that’s not crazy for Lance to suggest as  a date since everyone knows he loves to swim. If he gets Keith into it, that means that they could work together to make it happen.

Lance practically sprinted from the garden to find Keith.

\------

Lance has looked  _ everywhere _ and still, no Keith! He searched the garden, the library, the kitchen (that was actually a snack break), Shiro’s room, Keith’s room, his own room, practically everywhere.

Tired from running around, Lance stopped to rest by the sword practice field. It was where he was at the time, plus, it was pretty entertaining to watch.

For a while, he watched the newbies block and parry. A simple but effective drill for new swordsman or swordswomen to practice with. There was one pair of fighters in the very back. They seemed to be slightly apart from the group, doing their own thing without getting yelled at. Which wasn’t fair at all since Lance was yelled at for having his foot slightly in the wrong place or small stuff all the time when he was starting his sword training. In the long run, it did teach him patience and obedience, well, less of the latter. He didn’t listen to anyone.

Looking closer at the two solo fighters, the smaller of the two caught his eye. He wasn’t wearing any face gear, which showed his black hair tied into a ponytail, and… purple ears?

Literally face palming, earning one or two weird glances, Lance walked towards who he knew to be Keith. Which meant the other guy must be Shiro.

He approached just as Keith landed hard onto his ass from the blow of Shiro’s hilt. “Hey guys, Shiro, can I borrow Keith for a second? Okay great, I’ll bring him back soon!” Lance didn’t give time for either man to respond, simply grabbing Keith by the wrist and dragging him away far out of earshot.

“What the hell Lance!” Keith struggled against Lance’s grip, “I was in the middle of a sparring lesson!”

“I just need you for like, two minutes.” Lance told him, spinning around to face the grumpy prince, “besides, I think you’ll like this.”

Keith rolled his eyes, “two minutes, no longer.”

“Okay, so, you know the super heavy sexual tension between Shiro and Adam?” Lance watched Keith’s eyebrow quirked up in interest, before he gave a look that said, ‘who doesn’t’, “alright, so I was thinking about finding a way of getting them together! It’s very simple actually! I request to go swimming, we go to one of the lakes in the area, we shove either Shiro or Adam in, and since we’re princes, we aren’t expected to save him! I realize the plan has a few holes, but I have a good feeling about it!”

“I mean, if we work on how to execute the plan, then I think it would be good for the two of them.” Keith mumbled just loud enough for Lance to hear, they made eye contact, “can’t they both swim though?”

“Shit… I hadn’t thought of that…” Lance realized his slip up a bit too late, “I mean… oh shoot. Oh diddly darn. Frick frack.”

Keith giggled at Lance’s stumbling. 

_ Like, actually giggled. _

Well hot diddly darn if Lance didn’t think that was adorable he’d be lying.

“Maybe we just start freaking out and asking each other if he can swim and just make so much commotion that they have no choice but to jump in and save the other.”

“Well, it may not be too difficult… Adam can swim, but he’s not very good. He looks like he’s drowning he flails around so much.”

“Damn Lance, this just might work.”

Lance stared at Keith, his mouth open.

“Oh shut up, damn isn’t even a bad word really. Royals say it all the time around each other.” Keith rolled his eyes, but Lance could tell he meant it good naturedly, with that small smile gracing his lips.

“Well then, my fair princely maiden, shall we make it a date?”

Keith giggled again, “sounds good to me.”

They bowed overdramatically to each other before barely maintaining composure as they went their separate ways.

Their next date seemed to be promising.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to update faster! Shorter chapter today! See you soon! (Hopefully)


	7. A New Point of View

Keith’s POV

 

So, maybe taking Shiro’s suggestion to wake Lance up in the morning was a terrible idea. Okay, a great idea.

When Keith knocked on the door, he did not expect to be greeted by an adorable, exhausted, bedhead Lance.

Even when they were locked in together, Lance’s hair was almost perfect. Now, it was a fluffy mess of white cowlicks and slight curls. His face and arms were covered in sheet lines from heavy sleep, and dried drool was on his cheek.

And, Lance apparently sleeps shirtless. The thin twig of a guy is really toned surprisingly.

None of Lance’s sleepy state should be cute. It should’ve been gross and ugly or something to make him  _ not  _ want to marry the guy. But, lo and behold, everything about Lance seemed to make Keith blush.

“Good- good morning your highness.” Keith stumbled out, his cheeks burning.

“It’s so early…” Lance whined, rubbing his eyes, “why’d you have to wake me upppp?”

“We have some last minute planning to do Lance. Plus, I wanted to wake you up and see if you were gross in the morning, turns out, I was right.”  _ Lies.  _

“Don’t be mean to me.” Lance grumbled.

Then, Lance did something surprising, he leaned his head onto Keith’s shoulder and just rested it there.

Keith felt his face flame up even more. 

“Laaaance,” great now Keith was whining, “we have to be prepared.”

Lance groaned and shuffled away from Keith to sit on his bed. “Are you coming in or not?” 

“Oh uhm, right, yes I’m coming.” Keith closed the door behind him and stood awkwardly by Lance’s bed.

Lance gave Keith an exasperated look, “dude, sit  _ down,  _ relax, it’s just me.”

What Keith could’ve said in that moment. Just him? Just Lance? Yeah right. Lance is everything Keith could ever want in a guy. It was obvious from the second they met, that Keith would fall head over heels for the prince. 

Something about Lance was so endearing and oddly adorable. His eyes would light up when he got excited about something. His marks (when lit up) would blush with him. Lance’s smile seemed to sparkle and light up any room. And his eyes. They are just these beautiful bright blue orbs of color that seem to be his brightest feature.

Just the other day, when Keith had Lance pinned to that wall, it took everything in him to not be honest about the sinful thoughts that were floating around in his head.

It hurt to know Lance didn’t feel the same way, he probably never would. Because a guy like Lance, could never like a guy like Keith.

A halfblood prince, a galra. He has these huge, purple, fluffy ears for Altea’s sake! Nothing was attractive with those things.

Maybe he should just cut the relationship off now, before the feelings got too intense. But, he can’t do that! He made his mother a promise. He promised to save the kingdom no matter what he had to do. He would do anything for her, she was the kindest woman Keith could ever know. What can he say? Keith loves his mom.

And, marrying a super handsome prince wasn’t even that bad. Except the not liking Keith back, that kinda sucked. 

“Keith!” Lance’s voice snapped.

“What?” Keith asked, his brain slowly catching up, he must’ve blanked out there for a second.

“You okay?” Lance asked, his hand on Keith’s shoulder, which Keith was  _ very  _ aware of, “you seemed to space out there for a minute.”

“Oh, yeah I’m fine, sorry about that.” Keith muttered, face flushed. He sat down on the bed next to Lance.

“Well, I mean, you said you wanted a better plan right? We can start that now, I’m more awake then I was a minute ago!” Lance laughed, a cute little laugh that made Keith feel calm and at ease.

“Let’s do this then.” Keith smirked, thinking of all the moments Shiro had embarrassed him, “it’s time for some payback.”

 

\---A few hours later---

 

So, being on two horses who are in love, is totally not the best idea when you’re trying to be sneaky.

Kaltenecker and Kosmo kept trying to get as close to each other as possible, Kaltenecker being slightly aggressive today. But you could tell she was trying to be gentle with Lance riding her.

It reminded Keith of going horseback riding for the first time with Lance. Keith, didn’t act very nice in that moment…

But, in his own defence, having a super hot dude land on top of you and put you both in a… position, startled Keith so bad be may have overreacted. He still feels bad about that. 

“Am I still an asshat?” Keith whispered to Lance, a small grin on his face.

“Hm? Oh, yeah.” Lance answered, teasing Keith, “but, you have improved a bit.”

They both laughed at this.

Lance’s gaze was pulled forward then, his eyes lighting up as he exclaimed, “We’re here!!!”

They all tied up and treated their horses before they went down to the little lake. Lance immediately led them along a small path for a few minutes, which led to small cliffs that hung over the water. It was a beautiful spot. Chipmunks came up to curiously sniff at them, and birds constantly sang. 

It was perfect for some revenge.

Keith and Lance tried to keep it cool and act normal, which was basically impossible for them. They were giggling messes.

Shiro checked the water for them, to make sure it was deep enough, just in case. After that, Lance shoved Keith into the water. But, he was so busy laughing at Keith’s squawk as he fell, that he didn’t notice when Keith got out of the water and snuck up behind him.

He grabbed Lance around the waist and pulled them both off the ledge, Lance screaming as they fell together. Keith only laughed. When they both surfaced again, they noticed they were still holding onto each other, Keith’s arms around Lance’s waist, and Lance’s arms hung around Keith’s neck.

Keith felt his face burn once more, luckily, his ears were wet so they couldn’t poof up with his blush. Lance’s cheeks seemed to go slightly red, but Keith couldn’t really tell. Plus, why would Lance blush at this? It wouldn’t make sense. They both scrambled away from each other and swam around for a bit.

Eventually, they got bored of just swimming and decided to put their plan to action. 

Acting tired, they got out of the water and sat down on towels set out for them. After relaxing a bit, Keith nodded to Lance, the ‘go’ signal.

 

“Uhm… Adam?” Lance started, pretending to panic slightly, “I can’t find my earrings.”

“Did you take them off before swimming?” Adam asked, concern edged into his voice.

“I- I don’t know… I can’t remember.” Lance mumbled, tears welling up in his eyes. “Shit, Adam, I can’t lose those! I- I just can’t!”

“Lance, breathe, it’s going to be okay, let’s go look where you two were horsing around.” Adam reassured.

Adam and Lance walked to the edge of the cliff, searching the ground. Holy shit Lance could act.

Suddenly, Lance walked up to Adam, whispered something in his ear, then ‘tripped’ over his own to feet, knocking Adam from the cliff and into the water ten feet below.

Shiro, being the big softie he was, immediately ran and jumped into the water, either to get the story from Adam, or try and save him.

Keith walked up to the edge with Lance and watched as the two guards surfaced, Shiro’s face filled with worry, Adam’s face filled with a mix of embarrassment and anger.

Both princes high-fived as they watched the two blush and stutter to each other. It was adorable!

“LANCE AND KEITH! SO HELP ME I WILL-” Adam shouted at them, but he didn’t get to finish his sentence due to Lance screaming,

“SORRY CAN’T HEAR YOU! HAVE FUN ON YOUR DATE!” 

Lance grabbed Keith’s wrist then and they both started running back to their horses, laughing as they went.

They climbed onto their own separate steeds, separating the two lovebirds, er, horses. Trotting for a bit, they let Adam and Shiro catch up, which took a good ten minutes or so.

When the guards caught sight of the princes, they urged their horses into full gallops. 

“Keith, if you want to live, you better ride as fast as you can.” Lance said seriously before shooting off on Kaltenecker.

Keith didn’t wait any longer to urge his own horse into a full sprint, easily catching up with Lance, they both sped ahead, all the way to the castle and into the stables.

Lance kindly asked the current stable boy if he could take care of their horses for them since they were running for their lives. Keith handed him a bit of money he always carried with him and ran off before the boy could refuse.

Keith was dragged by the wrist all the way to the Prince’s room. Only when the door was closed and locked did they both finally relax.

 

They made eye contact, blue looking into purple, and burst out in laughter.

 

That’s the moment, the exact moment, Keith knew he fell in love with Lance. 

 

“Hey Lance,” Keith asked, panting hard as he tried to catch his breath.

Lance breathed out a heavy, “yeah?” swallowing hard.

“What did you whisper to Adam before shoving him into the lake?”

“Oh,” Lance laughed, “I told him to have fun and I was sorry not sorry.”

Keith chucked at this, that was just something Lance would do.

 

“How long should we hide in here?” Keith asked.

Lance tapped a finger to his chin, as if in thought, “probably a while, I don’t think Shiro would let you sleep tonight if you go to your room, he might murder you… and Adam won’t come in here without direct permission from me, Allura, or my dad. So, we could just camp out until tomorrow.” Lance’s face turned red as he thought of what he implied, “I mean- if you want- it’s entirely up to you, of course!”

“Please. I would never escape Shiro’s torture if you kick me out.” Keith said dramatically.  _ Definitely _ not because he wanted to spend time with Lance! Lance wasn’t cool or fun or sexy or cute or… he should stop these thoughts now.

“You can borrow a pair of my pajamas if you’d like,” Lance said, walking towards his closet, “I have quite a few pairs.”

“Yeah, that’d be nice…” Keith mumbled softly.

As Lance opened the closet, one of his clothing pieces toppled out, it was blue and gold… Keith recognized it instantly. They were Lance’s betrothal clothing. The first thing he ever saw Lance in.

He watched as Lance went to pick it up, and his face fell slightly. He shoved the clothing back into the closet before pulling out what Keith assumed were pajamas.

“I’m sorry.” Keith said softly.

He watched as Lance forced a smile on his face, “for what?”

“The day we first met. I was rude to you and I can tell that I really hurt you.”

“No, no. We- we were both on edge that day, it’s fine.”

“Obviously, it isn’t fine. If it helps, Kaltenecker definitely wouldn’t look as good in those clothes as you did.”  _ Oh shit, he said to much. Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh _ -, “I uhm- that wasn’t right- maybe- I- I didn’t….”

Lance’s face bloomed into a brilliant shade of red, “did you just? Are you, Keith Kogane, saying I looked good in that?”

_ Please make this torture end, oh what did Keith do to deserve this, someone please help this poor, gay, heart.  _ “I did.”  _ Why did he say that!? _

Lance was so shocked at Keith’s short answer, he literally stepped back.

“Oh wow, I- I think I hear someone calling for me, oh what a shame! I guess I better run! Maybe some other time?”  _ WHY IS HE SAYING ALL THIS?!?! WHAT THE ABSOLUTE QUIZNAK. _

 

Yanking open the door, Keith tried to run out of the room, but ran into the wall, after recovering for a second, he sent an awkward chuckle Lance’s way, who was still frozen in shock, then proceeded to sprint down the hallway. 

_ I promise to never try to get Shiro back ever again.  _ Keith thought to himself as he ran off to his room. 

Coincidentally, Keith just happened to run directly into Shiro, who was angrily making his way to his own room.

Shiro turned, and after registering it in his mind that Keith was the one who bumped into him, grabbed his arm and practically stormed his way into Keith’s room.

Just as he was about to lecture the prince, he seemed to notice Keith’s absolute terror and embarrassment on his face.

“Keith? What’s wrong?”

“I basically just admitted to Lance’s face that I thought he looked really good in his betrothal clothing and instead of taking it back or something, I just admitted it when he asked and oh quiznak Shiro, I just basically admitted my feelings for the guy and we’ve only known each other for about a week! I’ll never survive the rest of this if he already knows!”

Shiro stared blankly at him for a minute, then burst out laughing at Keith’s crisis.

“This isn’t funny! It’s going to be so awkward from now on!”

“This is what karma is Keith!” Shiro said gleefully, “that’s what you get for trying to mess with me and Adam!”

“And how did that turn out?” Keith asked, smirking.

Now it was Shiro’s turn to blush. “I-well, it was, kinda… nice?” Shiro stumbled out, “we had a few moments to ourselves, even though we were mad at you two, but then we were kinda happy about it too.” Shiro scratched his head, a little habit he had when he was embarrassed.

“So, it was basically a good thing, and I don’t deserve to be punished like this.”

“Probably?”

Keith rolled his eyes, “go to bed old man,” he stuck his tongue out.

Shiro only laughed and left the room, leaving Keith alone with his thoughts.

 

_ Let’s hope tomorrow’s date goes well… _ Keith thought as he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated faster! I've been writing non-stop for a couple of days! So, I hope you enjoy! I know this chapter is kinda weird but I wanted to show Keith's view in all of this and how he feels! I thought it would be a good change. I also wanted to show my boys having some fun for once and not being so stressed. It was fun to write though! Thank you so much for reading so far!!!


	8. Dark Memories

Lance’s POV

 

It’s a new day, with endless possibilities, since today is a day out in the town. Of course, it’s just to get Keith adjusted to the Alteans and their village.

In Lance’s eyes, Keith looked plenty comfortable around the castle and Lance, so that was definitely a positive. 

 

Maybe, Lance was a bit tired today, and maybe that was because he spent most of the night thinking about how Keith basically called him hot. Which was a major compliment since the galran prince was the embodiment of attractiveness, (according to Lance) but, no homo. Keith was just a really good friend to Lance, that’s all.

So, perhaps, Lance wore something that hugged his figure a bit, just for the aesthetic of course! Not for Keith at all! Because why would he want to impress Keith? That’d be weird…

 

Adam retrieved Lance from his room, lectured him all the way to the dining room about the day before, where they met Shiro and Keith already sitting at the table and eating.

But, as Lance went to sit down, he noticed two other people sitting at the table. The white hair gave the first away, “Allura! You’re back!” Lance yelled, excited to see his sister. 

Allura sprang up from her seat and gracefully sped towards Lance, capturing him in a hug.

“I missed you you weirdo,” Lance muttered into her hair, but, Allura, being the absolute beast she is, quickly changed position and captured Lance in a headlock.

“Excuse you, I will have you know that you are the weirdo here!” She laughed as she messed up Lance’s hair with her knuckle.

“Allura, Lance, that is no way to behave in front of our guests.” Alfor said calmly, but anyone could see he was holding back his own chuckle of amusement..

The two quickly untangle themselves and stood up straight, holding back giggles. That’s when Lance noticed Romelle, “Oh my gosh is that my favorite Altean?!” Allura elbowed him in the ribs, hard. “That isn’t my lovely sister of course.”

“The one and only!” Romelle smiled as she made her way to Lance, embracing him in a hug.

Then, Romelle, with her own altean strength lifted Lance up and spun him around.

When she put him back down, she asked, “okay, so I’m a bit behind on all the gossip so, introduce me to the young gentlemen over there.”

Lance chuckled, “Well, the grumpy one with the mullet is my half way husband Keith, happy one week by the way, and the gentle but cruel soul next to him is his bodyguard Shiro. Guys, this is Romelle, the soon to be wife of my sister, whom you’ve met.”

Keith and Shiro waved respectively. 

“So, what brings you two here so soon? I was told you weren’t coming back for another few days.” Lance asked, sitting down at the table along with Allura and Romelle.

“Well, there was a change in plans, I missed my family, Romelle needed a vacation, and I wanted to get to know Keith better, since he is marrying you.”

“Awe, you care about me!”

“No, I care about your poor to-be husband.”

Keith snickered at that, murmuring, “He’s not too difficult to handle.”

“Shush, you have no input here.” Lance joked, making sure Keith knew it was for him.

“Alright everyone, settle down, get your fill so that you can head to town today. Let the people meet the new couple.” Alfor suggested.

The dining room was quieter after that, with smaller side conversations to fill the silence.

For once, Lance felt really calm, and happy. Probably because Allura was back, she always made him feel better.

 

After breakfast, Lance and Keith were both led to their horses so they could head out. Adam and Shiro kept a close eye on the two princes to, “keep them sane.” As the two guards put it. Kaltenecker seemed excited to go out today, since she was a ball of energy, constantly shuffling and moving. She just didn’t want to stay still. 

Kaltenecker took the lead, making the other three horses follow behind her at a trot. Adam caught up to ride next to Lance, with Shiro and Keith behind them.

Once the town was in view, the steeds sped up, knowing they would get some sort of treat for their work.

The walk through town was… interesting. Some people were happy to see their prince, others, weren’t happy to see Lance’s fiance. Probably due to the terrible rumors about the galra that ran about the town. Surprisingly, this made Lance feel… upset. How could they not like Keith? He was a chill dude and there wasn’t anything wrong with being galran.

The four slid off their respective horses and tied them to a nearby post, a village guard nearby to keep watch.

Walking through town, small glares sent Keith’s way were much more noticeable. Which was starting to make Lance a bit… irritated. No one should glare at his friend. 

_ Wow, he just called Keith a friend, again. Maybe he could become a best friend. They did get along really well, and finding friends was really difficult as a prince. _

Lance shook himself out of his thoughts and went to stand beside Keith. Doing this, he noticed that Keith was actually starting to shrink in on himself.

“Lance? What’s wrong?” Keith asked quietly.

“Hold my hand, it might help if the people see us as a couple.” Lance whispered, feeling his face heat up. He would do this for any of his friends though, so it wasn’t very special.

“A-Alright.” Keith took Lance’s hand timidly.

Keith’s hand was a little sweaty, but also fit very well in Lance’s hand. It was almost… nice.

 

Lance stumbled over something, or… someone. He didn’t fall, just staggered a little. When he looked to see what the intrusive object could be, instead of a crack in the cobblestone, it was a small child. A little boy at the looks of it. 

Lance could already see the tears building up in the child's eyes. A million apologies came from his mouth as he scooted away on his bum. Since he fell over from bumping into another force.

Just as he was about to assure the boy that it was alright, he noticed Keith let go of his hand to kneel down at eye level with the little kid. He gave the kid a small smile, “hey buddy, it’s alright. No one is going to hurt you. Accidents happen all the time.” Keith held his hand out for the kid to take.

The small boy timidly took the galran prince's hand and Keith gently lifted him to his feet.

“What’s your name?” Keith asked softly.

“I’m Mateo....” Mateo said softly.

“Well Mateo, it’s good to meet you, I’m Keith.”

Keith stood again and took Lance’s hand, the boy running off excitedly to a group of kids. Lance then noticed the soft looks of the people who witnessed the little accident. There didn’t seem to be anyone glaring anymore, turns out Keith can change how people act around him with just one small thing. This did something weird to Lance’s heart. 

His thoughts were interrupted by a whole group of kids running up to them. Mateo was the one to speak from the group, “Keef! Could you and the prince play hide and seek with us?”

Seeing Keith’s small smile towards the innocent children, made Lance’s heart do a flip.

Keith looked at him, “what do you say Lance? Want to play a game of hide and seek?”

“S-sure!”  _ Why is he stuttering? _

The kids cheered, telling the two princes to count to ten while they went to hide.

Being the kind, gentle, souls that they were, Lance and Keith stubbornly decided to win this match no matter what. Shiro and Adam however, made sure to sit somewhere with a full view of the small area.

 

Finding most of the kids was easy, but, they had an exceptionally hard time finding Mateo. And, according to the other kids, he was their best hider and seeker. So, the kid knew what he was doing. Which made the game very difficult for the two princes that never really got outside much. (Talk about anti-social).

Eventually, they convinced the other kids to help them find the sneaky child by bribing them with the promise of candy. A rare treat for anyone with financial issues. So, needless to say, they found Mateo in record time.

 

Now it was the princes turn to hide.

So, explain how, if Lance ran one way, and Keith ran another, how the heck did they end up in the same hiding spot?! 

They seemed to have the same idea of jumping into a nearby crate, coincidentally choosing the same one. Lance was there first! He told Keith to find his own hiding spot but noooooo. The stubborn galra decided there wasn’t enough time left and just closed the lid as he got in. He would’ve had two whole seconds to find a new spot! That was plenty of time!

So now, they’re stuck in a very weird position. Lance’s legs on the floor while Keith’s legs were held up by Lance’s knees. This meant there was a foot on either side of Lance’s head. 

_ It would’ve been hot if they were hands instead…  _

That was… a weird thought... but okay?

The boys were red in the face from the heat of being inside a wooden crate on a sunny day. Not for any other reason at all. Was his heart beating faster? Probably from the adrenaline.

“You didn’t ha-” Lance started, but Keith quickly shut him up with a hand over his mouth, his ears twitching.

Lance glared as hard as he could at the other prince. The nerve to shut him up. Heckin’ rude.

“Sorry, I heard them walking over.” Keith whispered, slowly taking his hand away from Lance’s mouth.

They sat in silence for a while, waiting for the damn game to end so they could  get out of this weird position.

 

After about 15 minutes, Mateo was the one who found them. He immediately stated, “you’re not supposed to hide  _ together! _ ” 

They were dragged out of their hiding spot, and quickly taken to a nearby sweets shop. All the kids taking them up on their promise, and who would they be if they broke a promise?

So, Keith helped the kids with the candy that they wanted, while Lance talked to the owner about payment. He had a few coins on him but not enough for all of the kids. Not wanting to break any hearts, he promised the shop keeper that he would pay him more the next day. Luckily, Keith was there to save the day, and handed a small drawstring bag, to the owner. Simply saying, “this should cover it.” It was probably more than enough though.

After they left the shop, the kids, happy with their chosen treats, thanked the two princes, and ran off to play. Mateo, surprisingly, stayed behind.

“Hey Mateo. What’s wrong?” Keith asked gently, squatting down and balancing on the balls of his feet.

Instead of saying anything, Mateo only wrapped his arms around Keith’s neck and tried to hug the mullet prince as hard as he could. Keith was shocked for a few seconds, but quickly wrapped his own arms around the boy, hugging him back. It was a really sweet moment.

When Mateo let go, he turned to Lance with his arms held out expectedly. Lance smiled gently, and kneeled down, hugging the sweet little boy. His hug with Lance was much shorter though, as he let go, backed up a few steps mumbling a “thank you” before running off to his friends.

“Someone likes you more than me, that’s surprising.” Lance joked.

“It’s because I don’t try to win hearts with bribery.”

“Rude!” Lance gasped.

Keith laughed, “come along my jealous prince, we still have things to do.”

 

Turns out, there was a little festival going on that night. Adam informed them that it was to celebrate the sun and the light it gave them. Lance had heard of the sun celebration before, but never allowed to actually go out into the village and celebrate it. They usually celebrated at home, having a picnic in the afternoon and making small offerings to the sun god. Some believe he flys in a chariot, and pulls the sun into the sky.

The people sang and danced and ate as much as they pleased, later, they offered their own offerings on a little alter, praying for good crop for the year. It was good to have hope in something to keep spirits high.

After the sun went down, everyone gathered in the square, the last part of the celebration. A man approached a pit filled with logs and kindling. Lance didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late. The man raised his burning torch to the sky, saying some kind of prayer, which everyone repeated. Afterwards, he threw the torch into the pit, the entire thing lighting almost instantly, creating a huge bonfire.

Lance could feel the heat on his face. He could smell the burning of wood, strong in his nose. The fire was roaring and crackling, bringing back things he never wanted to think about again.

He stepped back, one, two, three steps, every instinct in his body telling him to run. His eyes burned from the smoke, from the memories, tears starting to slip down his cheeks. He couldn’t hear anyone, just the high pitched ringing in his ear. He felt trapped, hot, and scared. 

He could hear the muffled speaking of his name, then a face blocked his view of the fire. Purple, concerned eyes, stared at him. He tried to focus on those eyes, to bring himself back to the present, to force down the memories that still haunted him. Purple, Keith, galra. 

“Lance!” Keith’s voice suddenly came through, the ringing and static being drowned out for once, “what’s wrong?!” He was quiet enough to not disturb the others, but loud enough for Lance to hear. He noticed Adam and Shiro a little behind Keith, also concerned.

“I- I’m fine…” Lance whispered, “I just- just need to go home…”

Adam nodded, talking to Shiro and Keith for a second, probably telling them they could stay if they’d like, but the two simply shook their heads and followed along.

Shiro was the one to help Lance get on his horse. Adam taking the reins to make Kaltenecker follow. Kaltenecker sensed Lance’s mood, walking at the perfect pace, not too fast or slow. Lance wasn’t… all there for all of this exactly. He noticed, but he couldn’t really register it happening.

 

Getting to the castle was easy enough, a stable boy taking care of their horses for them. Adam walked Lance to his room, only leaving to ask Allura to help.

When Allura walked in, she simply just rubbed Lance’s back as he cried. A simple but effective way of calming someone. Adam must’ve told her the situation, which was fine by Lance. He needed his sisters comfort as the memories consumed him. His breathing was shallow and his heart pumped in fear. Allura whispered assuring things in his ears, calming him down.

Lance was restless for the rest of the night, waking constantly from nightmares of fire and screaming. Allura had decided to stay with him for the rest of the night. Holding him close even when he woke up sweating and screaming. It was a sleepless night for both of them. But, as usual, whenever this happened, Lance would wake up in the morning with no recollection of it. His brain would automatically bury memories like this so deep, that he would only remember it if someone mentioned it.

No one truly understands why, only that it may be due to the fact that it could be an altean effect of trauma. Forcing a way to protect the brain and body from bad memories and thoughts. It could be called a form of mental protection in alteans. An unsolved research.

Allura still stayed, no matter how bad. Lance would wake up screaming and Allura would wake up too, immediately calming him with whispers of assurance that it was just a dream and that it would be okay.

Everything would be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOOOO schnap! Sorry for the tramatized Lance but, backstory coming soon! We are almost to the halfway mark! I will keep uploading to the best of my ability! Thank you so much for reading so far!


	9. Starry Night

 

“Good morning Lance,” Allura said tentatively as she gently shook Lance’s shoulder, “how are you feeling?”

“I’m okay, I think.” Lance mumbled groggily, “I don’t remember much, but I’m betting I had another… moment.”

“Yeah, but let’s not think about it too much.” Allura changed the subject, getting out of the bed and stretching, “how did the date go before that?”

Lance swung his legs over the side of the bed, preparing himself to get up for the day, “it was fun, Keith is a really good person.”

“Are you sure he’s just a good person?” Allura waggled her eyebrows.

“Fine, he’s like, my best friend now.” 

Allura gave him a disbelieving look before smiling and shaking her head.

A knock sounded at the door, Lance was the one to get up and open it, and was quite surprised to see that Miya was waiting on the other side. 

“Good morning Lance, Allura. Please go eat so we can head out. We have a lot to do today!” Miya smiled, hugging both Lance and Allura, “and Allura, welcome back darling.”

 

With that, Allura helped choose an outfit for Lance, since Miya was the seamstress, that meant that today would be a day filled with trying things on. So, Lance was wearing a light outfit for the day, that would be easy enough to get on and off.

The two siblings headed down to breakfast together, after stopping by Allura’s room for her to get dressed and get Romelle.

Now, as a party of three, they made it to the dining room. But, Lance was surprised to see that Keith and Shiro had not arrived yet, which was odd considering that they were always here before Lance.

They all waited about 15 minutes, everyone just talking together. Finally, the doors opened, and Shiro and Keith walked in.

“Excuse us for being late your majesty,” Shiro spoke as they walked towards the table to sit, “we had a bit of a late night.”

Shiro looked awake, but not as alert as he usually was. However, Keith, on the other hand, looked as if he hadn’t slept a wink. Anyone could see that he was barely keeping his posture straight. This worried Lance.

 

Lance watched Keith the whole time at breakfast. After the galran prince had at _least_ 4 coffees, (black, no sugar, the _fiend_ ) he started to look a lot better. _Maybe that’s why he always got here so early, so he could chug twelve coffees and act awake._

 

After breakfast, the princes (and their guards) were whisked away by Miya, who was absolutely decked out in all sorts of dressing things. Tape measures, fabric choices, pencils, paper, you name it, she had it.

The entire way to town, she rode the guest horse named blue (Lance’s second favorite horse) between Lance and Keith and discussed wedding colors and choice fabrics.

An amazing fact about Miya, she was the best at finding the perfect blend of comfort and fashion in every outfit she made or put together. Which is why she worked in the castle, because she was the best of the best.

 

They arrived at an empty clothing store, since it was required that only the princes and their seamstress would be with them. (And the owner)

Shiro and Adam were told to stand guard outside the doors, along with a few of the village guards.

Miya was already buzzing around the store, comparing colors and materials with her own material choices. Lance and Keith had already decided on red, blue, and a little bit of purple. It was going to be really cute.

“Lance dear, go try this on.” Miya said, tossing the clothes to him, “and Keith, put this one on.”

Lance nodded and walked to the back of the store for the dressing rooms, Keith following close behind. He noticed, as he closed the curtain of the small ‘room’ that the clothes that he was given were a full, dark blue, white accent, tuxedo.  

When it was on him, Lance realized why people said blue was the perfect color for him. The dark blue accented his eyes and his markings, making them seem brighter than usual. He stepped out of the changing room at the same time as Keith.

Keith was wearing a dark red suit with white accents, almost the same as Lance’s except for the color. It looked really good on his friend. It hugged him just right and seemed to be a perfect fit.

“I like those ones. But, just in case, I want to try a few other suits, just to make sure that these are the ones.” Miya contemplated, “try these on now.”

Lance and Keith tried on a lot of suits. 

At one point, when Keith came out of the dressing room with a slightly too tight suit, Lance announced, “That hugs your figure too much, and it looks really tight.” To which, Keith blushed and agreed.

On another suit, Keith blurted out, “that makes your ass look non-existent.” To which he blushed like a mad-man, Lance laughed, but had to agree with it and didn’t fully understand why Keith would be so embarrassed about such a comment.

Then he remembered that Keith thought he looked good in some outfits, but then again, don’t all friends notice each other in outfits like that? Well, Lance looks good, and he knows it. Who wouldn’t notice how sexy and attractive he is?

Anyway, after a few more suits, Miya had seen enough. “Alright, that’s good enough. Thank you for your patience.”

Lance and Keith quickly dressed in their own clothes, as they exited their seperate dressing rooms, Lance asked, “what did you decide on Miya?”

“Well, if you both approve of my choice, I thought the first suits were the best. You complimented each other, the suits seemed the perfect size, besides a few small adjustments. I checked the materials of them and found they were the most comfortable out of the rest of your choices.”

“I also really liked the first outfits you chose for us. The sleeves were a bit long for Lance so that’s a very minor adjustment, but, I believe that they were the most comfortable out of all the others that I tried on.” Keth spoke up, looking to Lance when he was done, as if asking for his opinion.

“Oh! Yes, I also agree with your choice!” Lance replied, “as usual when you make or recommend something.” 

Miya chuckled, “don’t flatter me Lance!”

The three made their way to the front, showing the shop owner what they wished to purchase. But, the man was very adamant that they shouldn’t pay him as it was for the good of their kingdom. 

But, everyone of the small group insisted to pay. The man made very fine suits for such a small business.

So, they ended up paying the man. Miya pulling out a decently sized satchel and handing it over. She may have overpaid him a bit, but when he tried to give some of the money back, she simply said, “for our reservation, and your time.” and dragged the two princes away before he could protest more.

 

A stop for dinner at a local restaurant was a good ending of the day. Lance didn’t realize how hungry he was until he got the first whiff of food. And, it was absolutely delicious! Something even Hunk would praise!

 

The ride home was relaxing. It was a beautiful night, the stars bright and twinkling. 

“We have a surprise for you, your highnesses.” Adam spoke in the silence, “since your date wasn’t more of getting to know each other, we thought you could have a bit of a more relaxing night.”

“How so?” Lance asked, his curiosity piqued.

“You’ll just have to wait and see.” Shiro added, a grin on his face.

 

Lance hates surprises. He hates waiting. And surprising are like just having to wait for something that you know should be good but you don’t know what it is and that is terribly frustrating. Needless to say, Lance was a pleading, pouting, mess. He practically begged Adam and Shiro to tell him what it was. Using his puppy dog eyes and pouting lips. He could care less how childish he was acting, he was in front of people he trusted. 

Adam and Shiro only smirked at his attempts to get the answers, but to no avail. Keith, seemed perfectly content not knowing, and very amused by Lance’s behavior. In fact, the galra would let out a random burst of laughter when something seemed too funny. Lance would only glare though, then go back to what he was doing.

 

With no answers for Lance, they made it back to the castle. Adam led them up two or three staircases, grabbing a basket full of stuff on the way up from one of the maids. 

About a third of the way up the southern tower, Adam stopped, opened the _window_ (with a key), and just _crawled out onto the roof._ Then stood there, with an arm held out for support.

“Are you coming or not?” Adam smirked.

Lance was too stunned to react, and was a bit surprised when Keith softly moved him out of his way stating, “well I am.” And hopped out the window to stand on the roof.

“Are you alright Lance?” Shiro asked softly, “you don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

Lance shook his head, “No no, I- I want to… I’ve just never done this before.”

“The rebel prince has never gotten on a roof? You learn something new everyday.” Keith teased.

Lance growled. Like, actually growled! Then quickly got up on the window ledge and slipped onto the roof. (With Adam’s help of course)

He felt unsteady, the slight slope of the roof and the height of it giving him vertigo. Jumping off cliffs into water is one thing, being atop a roof with a hard surface to fall onto, was a whole other thing. Unconsciously, Lance grabbed onto Keith’s arm for balance. If he was going down, Keith was going down with him. 

Surprisingly, Keith didn’t say anything, just supported Lance’s weight as they slowly followed Adam.

The guard, being ahead of them, and with Shiro’s help, already had everything set up and ready to go. They had set up a cute little bundle of blankets and small pile of snacks so that the two boys could sit on the roof in comfort and watch the stars. 

It was a clear sky tonight, every star beaming bright with light. The constellations seemed to be outlined in their own little shapes, seemingly, bars of light connecting the stars. It was beautiful.

Lance and Keith both lied down and cozied up in their blankets, just stunned into silence by the beauty of it all.

Shiro and Adam had moved away to give the princes some privacy, but close enough to be there in case anything happened.

Lance was the one to break the silence, “that constellation over there,” Lance pointed in the distance, “That’s the hippopotamus constellation, there’s a whole story about how he got up there, but I don’t recall it all too well.” (Constellations and the night sky are different, them being on a seperate planet.)

“He was running away from the hunter.” Keith said.

“Tell me the story?” Lance asked, grabbing a blanket and throwing it over them.

“Well, the Hippo was a strong fighter. He fought everyone and everything he came across. But, only if it was a threat to his home. A lot of animals called him the protector.” Keith said, “But slowly, the animals started to disappear. This was all because of a prideful hunter. Who hunted only for joy and hide. The hippo, enraged, decided to go after the man to stop him from destroying the ecosystem. They confronted each other, the hippo asking the man to stop at first. But the hunter, full of pride and greed, only said that he and the hippo should fight to become the king of all. The hippo agreed, but had a plan to keep the man away forever. After fighting for a long time, the hippo, weak and injured, fell. With his dying breath, he asked for the man to fall with him. The man celebrated his victory, but it was short lived. He fell to the ground from the loss of blood. The hippo was then placed into the sky, to be the protector of all considered weak. The man, however, was placed into the sky to be punished. And will be chased by the hippo for all time.”

“What other constellations do you know?”

“Well, to be honest, I suck at finding constellations, but I know almost every one of their stories.” Keith said, “my mother would tell me one of their stories every night.”

“Wow. That must have been nice.” Lance said, “What's your favorite story?”

Keith thought for a moment, “I think, it’d have to be the story of the lion and the mouse.”

“How does that one go?”

“It all starts with the lion. She wasn’t much. Many called her weak and small. So, she left her own home to start somewhere else. She was attacked all the time, thought to be a good target. Somehow, she always fought off the animals trying to kill her. She simply didn’t want to die. One day, a small mouse was being chased by a hyena. The poor thing, running for her life, ran right under the lioness. The lion scared away the hyena easily enough, taking pity on the poor animal who reminded her of herself. The mouse thanked the lion, possibly the bravest mouse to ever live. The lion, not wanting to be alone again, asked the mouse if she would like protection from the other wildlife. The mouse, surprisingly, agreed and climbed atop the lions back. They went across the great plains together, in search of a paradise they could share. The mouse would help the lioness with finding food, while the lion provided protection for the two. They grew older, but never gave up in their search. One day, they found a small patch of paradise. Being old and tired, they were wary of the place but proceeded. Once deemed safe, they settled down in their new place, finally resting where they deserved. They both died together in their sleep, their one wish to be together for the rest of time. Their wish was granted, and they now live together in the paradise of the stars. Known to be small and weak, but also extremely brave. The pair gave hope to many around the world, to believe that they too could be brave. Some even say that they were the first of such different races to fall in love for eternity.” Keith finished, “I know it’s really cheesy, but I just always thought that that was the sweetest story of any.”

“I think it’s very sweet.” Lance smiled, looking to the stars, “I always wondered why the mouse and lion were touching noses.”

Lance pointed out in the distance where the constellation would be, trying his best to show Keith exactly where it was.

They stayed like that for a while, Lance pointing out the constellations, and Keith telling the stories.

When it started to get cold, they got closer, sharing body warmth. As they started to fall asleep, Adam and Shiro got them up and back to their bedrooms.

It was a good day, and an amazing night. And, Lance will admit, he hoped they could do that again soon. Something about the way Keith told stories kept Lance’s full attention. He could listen to that deep, smooth voice for eternity.

The lion and the mouse story didn’t leave his mind.

 

That night, he dreamed of stars dancing, and a certain galran prince named Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the fluffiest chapter I've ever written, and they are still dense!


End file.
